Ann Fulk, 24, has had her fair share of hospital visits for someone her age.
She was in a serious car accident in 2022 that shattered her bones, resulted in 10 surgeries and confined her to a wheelchair for six months.
“It was very traumatic,” Fulk told The Post. “I was an athlete at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and I was shadowing a vice chancellor. I was doing very well in all my classes. And — boom — it was all taken away within a second.”
Through sheer willpower, she managed to finish her degree and went on to graduate school at Loyola University in Chicago.
As a mental health therapist, she used the healthy coping strategies she knows to not let the accident break her — but she also figured the tragedy gods were done with her.
“I kind of thought that would be my only major medical, unlucky event for my whole entire life,” she said.
Not so much.
On April 3, 2024, she went to work, then played a little basketball at the gym with a friend before they both went back to her place. There, she poured herself a small glass of wine, put some music on and chatted to her friend while doing the laundry.
That’s when it happened — “I dropped to the ground,” she said.
Her friend began panicking, but she thought it might have just happened because she hadn’t eaten enough that day.
He gave her a granola bar — at which point she had another unpleasant realization.
“I couldn’t even eat the granola bar,” she said. “I was spitting it out. I couldn’t eat on the left side of my mouth.”
Understandably, her friend wanted to take her to a hospital but — given her history — she was reluctant to go and thought if she just went to bed she’d be fine in the morning.
“My right side, it was almost convulsing, as if I was having a seizure — it was moving uncontrollably. My left side was just totally done. Totally nonfunctioning.”
Ann Fulk
At the insistence of her friend, they called 911. At this point, she was completely paralyzed on her left side.
“He carried me into my bed and I could not use the left side of my body. It was fully numb,” she said.
“My right side, it was almost convulsing, as if I was having a seizure — it was moving uncontrollably. My left side was just totally done. Totally nonfunctioning.”
Soon, the EMTs were in her apartment, although they were as confused as she was at first.
“They had a weird look on their faces of just shock, cause they’re like, ‘She’s having symptoms of a stroke. Like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy,’” she said.
Once she got to the hospital, they performed a series of tests and put her on medication. The details of this part of the evening are a little fuzzy, but she recalls one moment pretty clearly.
“I am in a room with a hospital bed and my friend contacted my parents and my aunt and they came and I’m talking to them and the doctor comes in and tells me that, yes, OK, so I’m having a stroke,” she said.
They had found a blood clot on the right side of her brain — when a clot is on the right side of the brain it affects the left side of the body, and vice versa.
“They were somewhat in shock as much as me,” she said. “I think their procedure and focus at that time was just trying to figure out how to make me survive this.”
“I took a month of work and had to explain to people that it’s because I’ve had a stroke. And I think some people just wouldn’t believe me.”
Ann Fulk
She was presented with two options: They could perform surgery, which had a risk of death, or she could let her body fight off the stroke itself, which had a risk of leaving her brain dead.
“I was like, ‘What’s option three?’ And they’re like, ‘There is no option three,’” she said, laughing.
Figuring her chances were better with the surgery, she “went that route,” and it went well.
She was in the hospital for four days after that, with the medical team checking her on an hourly basis.
“I took a month of work and had to explain to people that it’s because I’ve had a stroke. And I think some people just wouldn’t believe me,” she said.
During her 30-day hospital stay, she was buoyed by supportive family members and friends who came to hang out with her. Her positive mentality also helped her get through this scary time.
“I haven’t let anything medical stop me in the past. [I knew I could] return back to that healthy version of myself that I was living before,” she said.
Still, she had “fears here and there,” especially because there was no definitive answer on what caused it.
How does a healthy 20-something have a stroke?
Prior to the stroke, Fulk was a classic example of a healthy 23-year-old — she didn’t smoke, drank alcohol “socially but not regularly,” exercised on a daily basis and maintained a healthy diet.
“A lot of people had the theory that it had something to do with my car accident,” she said. “But then other medical professionals believe that it was because of the birth control that I was on.”
Dr. Mohammad Anadani, Chief of Neuroendovascular Services for the Endeavor Health Neurosciences Institute, told The Post he believes her stroke was embolic — which means it originated elsewhere in the body and traveled to the brain instead of forming directly in the brain’s blood vessels.
Fulk was “taking oral contraceptives, which are known to increase the risk of stroke,” he said.
Another habit that may have contributed was working long hours — and, as a result, consuming a lot of caffeine.
“I was drinking a lot of caffeine — Celsius, one of their new, healthy energy drinks,” she said.
The product she was drinking contains 200 mg of caffeine per can — experts recommend no more than 400 mg of caffeine per day for healthy adults.
“While there is no clear evidence directly linking energy drinks to stroke, several studies have reported an increased risk of hypertension and cardiac arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation, associated with their use,” Anadani said.
“These conditions are known risk factors for stroke, so it is plausible that energy drinks may contribute to an elevated risk, especially in vulnerable individuals.”
While he acknowledged that energy drinks “could play a role in the rise of strokes among young adults,” he also believes “they likely contribute to a lesser degree than more well-established risk factors such as obesity, physical inactivity and chronic stress.”
Fulk has cut back on her caffeine intake since the stroke, and the doctors told her she’s unlikely to have another one as long as she takes her blood thinners. But, either way, she refuses to live in fear.
“As someone who has returned back to life and not let this stop me from continuing everything, hopefully other people will not let any type of medical incident stop them from continuing to live their lives,” she said.
“Having a strong, positive mental perspective is so important and part of it. And, also a great care team.”
