Julie Knichel is an ICU nurse with Marcus Neuroscience Institute, part of Baptist Health at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. She suffered a stroke early last year and credits her colleague Dr. Brian Snelling with saving her life. Photo provided
By Jan Engoren
What happened to Wonder Woman could happen to you.
In December 2024, actress Gal Gadot, known for her roles as Wonder Woman in the film franchise, underwent emergency surgery after suffering a massive blood clot to the brain — a cerebral venous thrombosis, which is a rare form of stroke.
Eight months’ pregnant with her fourth child, Gadot was bedridden with excruciating headaches before an MRI showed the clot and she was rushed into surgery.
Symptoms of CVT include headache, blurred vision, fainting or loss of consciousness, loss of control over body movement, seizures and coma, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Fortunately, the actress had a healthy baby girl, made a full recovery and is appearing in the recently released film Disney’s Snow White.
While nobody hopes for a stroke, if you’re going to have one, it’s good to be on a first-name basis with Dr. Brian Snelling, director of the stroke program at Marcus Neuroscience Institute, part of Baptist Health at Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
Fortunately for Delray Beach resident Julie Knichel, she is.
Knichel, 58, is an ICU nurse at the institute, working alongside Snelling, who earned his M.D. degree in 2011 from West Virginia University School of Medicine. Snelling had a fellowship in endovascular neurological surgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital & University at the Miami Miller School of Medicine from 2014 to 2016, and he is dual trained in neurosurgery and neuroradiology.
Knichel came under Snelling’s care in February 2024, when the Missouri native was awakened at 3 a.m. with a pounding headache she couldn’t ignore.
Feeling nausea and pain, she knew to call 911 and was rushed to the emergency room at the hospital and admitted to the same unit where she works.
She had suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage, where bleeding occurs in the space between the brain and the membrane that covers it.
“I was lucky to be taken care of by Dr. Snelling and my coworkers,” she says. “It was wonderful — as much as having a stroke can be wonderful.”
Snelling, who was going off-duty at the time, realized the just-admitted patient was Knichel, and stayed on several hours to perform the surgery.
“I had total confidence in Dr. Snelling,” says Knichel. “I knew his work and level of expertise and of my colleagues’ abilities to care for me.”
Knichel wasn’t completely surprised when she learned of the stroke, because her mother had died from the same thing at the age of 47.
For Snelling, this was all in a day’s work.
“And, while it can be tough to treat a colleague,” says Snelling, “we’re a big family and have a good working relationship. I was happy I could be there for her and thrilled that she had a great outcome.”
To stem the bleeding in Knichel’s brain, Snelling inserted a “coil,” by threading a catheter through her groin up to the brain, while watching the image on a computer screen.
Knichel was in the hospital for three weeks and out of work for three months, taking nimodipine, a calcium channel blocker used to treat aneurysms, every four hours for 14 weeks.
She had severe head pain for several weeks, which she managed with Tylenol and other medication.
Stroke is an umbrella term for a set of conditions characterized by loss of blood flow to the brain. A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is disrupted, either due to a clot blocking a vessel (ischemic stroke) or because of bleeding in the brain (hemorrhagic stroke).
Snelling suggests that anyone with a genetic predisposition or with two close relatives with a history of brain aneurysms go for a magnetic resonance angiogram screening.
Like the arteries to your heart, the arteries to your brain can clog from smoking, high cholesterol or high blood pressure.
“Don’t ignore the warning signs,” he says.
According to the American Stroke Association, someone in the U.S. has a stroke every 40 seconds, and someone dies from a stroke every four minutes.
Stroke is a leading cause of serious long-term disability, with more than 6.5 million stroke survivors currently living in the country.
Once the brain is deprived of blood and oxygen, brain cells begin to die within minutes. This can lead to permanent brain damage, disability or death.
That was not the case for Knichel, who returned to work full-time, resumed her beloved gardening and DIY projects, and incurred no lasting effects of the stroke. She can credit her quick action in calling 911 and the trained medics who treated her even before all the help she received since then.
Snelling says that only 10% of patients have a complete recovery, 25% have minor impairment and almost half of people are left with moderate impairment.
A nurse for more than 26 years, Knichel says the experience has given her more insight and a new ability to empathize with her patients and to give them hope.
“It’s a surreal experience,” she says. “I’m grateful to Dr. Snelling for saving my life.”
Recognizing the warning signs of stroke is crucial in getting prompt medical attention and preventing long-term damage.
The American Stroke Association suggests using the acronym “FAST” to remember the signs of stroke:
• Face drooping: Does one side of the face droop or feel numb?
• Arm weakness: Is one arm weak or numb? Raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
• Speech difficulty: Is speech slurred or hard to understand? Try repeating a simple sentence like, “The sky is blue.”
• Time to call 911: If someone shows any of these symptoms, call 911 immediately.
Visit stroke.org for more information.
Jan Engoren writes about health and healthy living. Send column ideas to jengoren@hotmail.com.
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