PHOENIX, Ariz. – As a 911 dispatcher, Amanda Boyer is used to handling medical emergencies. But one day last year, the 33-year-old Surprise resident woke up, suffering from a medical emergency herself – a massive stroke that could have been fatal.

“I call it my ‘stroke of luck’; it was a rude awakening for me of all the things that I took for granted in my life: my family, job, health, my daughter,’’ said Boyer, who is just now returning back to work.
Stroke does not discriminate. Victims can be any age, any ethnicity, and can come from all walks of life. Boyer did not exhibit any signs that she was at risk for stroke.  She was young, into fitness and weightlifting.  At only 33 years old, why would she need to be concerned about having a stroke?  

“There were definitely angels looking out for me,’’ she said. Boyer’s doctors believe her birth-control pills may have increased her risk for having a stroke since there was no history of stroke in her family.

“In Amanda’s case, we were able to quickly recognize that yes, indeed, a woman that young could be having a stroke,” said Jeremy Payne, MD, PhD, stroke center director at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix. “Our high level of training allowed us to get her the right care as soon as possible,’’ 

Boyer received stroke care at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix, which has been nationally recognized as Arizona’s first comprehensive stroke center by The Joint Commission. As a Comprehensive Stroke Center, it provides care for the sickest of stroke patients like Boyer, including the use of advanced technology such as the catheter procedure used to remove the clot from her brain that was causing her stroke.

Thanks to the medical experts at the hospital and also to her father, a longtime Glendale emergency medical technician who recognized signs of stroke in his daughter, Boyer is now able to get back to work, spending time with her daughter and resuming her active life.

Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix is a large teaching hospital that has provided medical care to Arizona and the Southwest since 1911. It is part of Banner – University Medicine, a premier academic medical network. The hospital specializes in heart care, cancer care, high-risk obstetrics, neurosciences and stroke care, organ transplants and Emergency care, including a Level 1 trauma center. Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix is part of Banner Health, a nonprofit health care system with 28 hospitals in six states. The institution, which has trained thousands of doctors over decades as a teaching hospital, is the academic medical center for the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. For more information, visit   www.bannerhealth.com/UniversityPhoenix .