KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Saturday, Christopher Schwab was on his way back home to Seattle from Atlanta, when thousands of feet in the air, he fell to his knees.
“I was trying to put my headphones on, and I couldn’t move my left arm," Christopher Schwab said. “I cracked my neck and I felt numbness on my left side, so I stood up to go to the bathroom to wash some water on my face, to try to get some sensitization back into my left side, and I collapsed.”
At 40 years old, Christopher Schwab had suffered a stroke mid-flight.
Thankfully, he was sitting near two doctors who came to his side.
The physicians urged Alaskan Airlines flight 493 to make an emergency landing in Kansas City, where Christopher Schwab was rushed to The University of Kansas Health System.
Dr. Koji Ebersole, an endovascular neurosurgeon at the KU Health System, rushed in when he got the call.
“You’ll drive a little faster when you hear it’s a young person — you can't do anything but the absolute best to give that patient a chance,” Ebersole said. “He had suffered an injury to the carotid artery in the neck, a freak accident for sure.”
Understanding time was of the essence, Ebersole hopped right into action and immediately started a procedure, as the injury was blocking blood flow to the brain.
“We have a 40-year-old that has a stroke, so immediately alarm bells are going off," Ebersole said. "Finding out that there was a clot that has developed from the injury, blocking the main blood vessel to that side of the brain, and then using our special tools extracted that thing completely.”
Ebersole said he and his team made sure to do everything to save him.
“He’s got three kids at home, there is no way we are not going to try our best," Ebersole said.
Christopher Schwab's wife, Ednalyn, says the efforts of the doctors is something she is grateful for.
“I just got that text like, 'He is going into surgery.' They cant wait for me and it’s brain surgery, my world is just collapsing,” she said. “The worst scenario just started popping in my head, like he could be dead by the time I get there, my kids are not going to have a father and like all of these things.”
Now, Christopher Schwab is quickly recovering, something doctors are grateful for.
“He was at risk of losing that whole half of the brain, and the picture shows he lost five to 10 percent of it, so we saved 90-95 percent of it,” Ebersole said.
Now, Christopher Schwab has advice for everyone.
“Just start taking care of yourself now," he said. "Eat healthy, be healthy. That way when things like this happen, your body is prepared."
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