Facetime: Affair of the heart

Sara Glassman, Star Tribune

Cameron, Alyson, Renee and Rachel Murray, who suffered from a stroke earlier this year.

By Sara Glassman, Star Tribune

Last update: November 7, 2009 - 5:16 PM

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At the 15th Heart and Stroke Gala last month at the Depot in Minneapolis, the American Heart Association's mission to promote research and education about cardiovascular diseases and strokes was brought to life in a case study. The patient: 22-year-old Rachel Murray of Lake Elmo, who suffered a stroke in April.

"I was studying and felt dizzy. I lay down on the floor and then was found," said Murray, who was then a senior majoring in geology at Macalester College in St. Paul. She recalls being confused and uncomfortable. Up until then, she had never heard of someone her age having a stroke.

"It hadn't occurred to me -- I thought that happened to people who were 60 or 70."

At the hospital, Dr. Michael Madison, an interventional neuroradiologist and the medical chair for the gala, treated her clot with blood-thinning medication and then used a device to remove it from the vessel. It's technology that was approved by the FDA in 2008.

Murray, who wore a full-length red satin gown to the black-tie party, has fully recovered and works as a lab assistant at 3M.

"She has a lot to contribute to the world," Madison said. "And we're happy to have her back on track."

Sara Glassman • 612-673-7177

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