May is Stroke Awareness Month April 21, 2025 | 12:02 PM EDT Learn more about May is Stroke Awareness Month

By NYSOFA Advocacy Specialist Colleen Scott

I recently wrote a column about cancer, noting how unlikely that anyone reading it had not been touched by the disease in some way. The article was personal for me – I was the primary caregiver for more than one relative whom I had lost to cancer.

May is Stroke Awareness Month. I write this article in May 2025, just weeks after I lost my father who suffered a second stroke in two months. I wish I had known the risk factors and prevention strategies sooner, and I hope this article prevents someone from the heartache our family is experiencing.

Disparities

What to Know

The following are signs of a stroke:

• Sudden numbness or weakness in the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body.
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking, or difficulty understanding speech.
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance, or lack of coordination.
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause.

The stroke treatments that work best are available only if the stroke is recognized and diagnosed within three hours of the first symptoms. Stroke patients may not be eligible for these treatments if they don't arrive at the hospital in time.

If you think someone may be having a stroke, act F.A.S.T. and do the following test:

• F—Face: Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop?
• A—Arms: Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward?
• S—Speech: Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Is the speech slurred or strange?
• T—Time: If you see any of these signs, call 9-1-1 right away.

Resources

• The Million Hearts initiative, co-led by the CDC and the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, focuses on a core set of strategies to prevent heart attacks and stroke. Community prevention includes tobacco control, sodium reduction, and physical activity.
• The National Institute of Neurologic Disorders and Stroke is also working to educate millions of Americans about the danger of uncontrolled hypertension through the Mind Your Risks campaign.
• The WISEWOMAN program provides low-income, underinsured, or uninsured women with chronic disease risk factor screening, lifestyle programs, and referral services in an effort to prevent heart disease and strokes.
• "Start Small. Live Big." This campaign encourages adults 55 and older, to get back on track with the small steps—like scheduling their medical appointments, getting active, and eating healthy—so they can get back to living big.
• "Live to the Beat." This campaign focuses on empowering Black adults to pursue heart-healthy lifestyles on their own terms—to find what works best individually and consistently—as they live to their own beat.
• Diet is a large part of lifestyle prevention for strokes. See this Healthy Eating on a Budget resource.