When Erica Norman lost control of her left arm following a workout at the gym, she immediately knew something was seriously wrong.
The 27-year-old from Shea Heights, N.L. regularly exercised, ate healthy meals, and rarely came down with a cold. There was nothing out of the ordinary with her diet or her workout routine on the evening of Nov. 13.
That is why it’s all the more surprising that the active, young woman suffered a stroke at the gym that day.
To make matters worse, Norman suffered the stroke while she was living in the U.S. without medical insurance and is looking at a bill of nearly US$100,000.
Last July, the biomedical engineer started a one-year contract position with a medical devices company called Zimmer Biomet, located in Warsaw, Ind. She accepted the job with the understanding that she would receive medical coverage in January 2018.
“It was my understanding that I would have only had to survive from July to December without the medical benefits, which as a healthy individual, I knew it was risky, but I knew that I was single person, who didn’t have any family to look after and I was very, very healthy and active,” Norman told CTVNews.ca on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, Norman suffered the stroke at the gym on Nov. 13.
The young engineer said she initially thought she was having a heart attack because of the lack of control of her arm.
“I went to raise my left arm and it kind of just went all over the place. It scared me,” she recalled. “I had difficulty walking. I instantly started getting very sick.”
Arteriovenous malformation
The paramedics arrived shortly after and Norman was rushed to the emergency room. After several tests and no diagnosis, she was admitted to hospital in the early hours of Nov. 14.
Later that morning, a neurologist informed her that she had suffered a stroke as a result of a condition she was born with called arteriovenous malformation (AVM), which is a cluster of tangled arteries and veins in her brain.
“One of the vessels that was infused into this cluster of vessels had ruptured and I had a bleed about the size of a golf ball in my brain,” Norman explained. “That bleed obviously caused a stroke.”
After nearly a week in the hospital, including four days in the Intensive Care Unit, Norman was discharged on Sunday. During that time, she racked up a medical bill that the hospital estimated would amount to approximately US$100,000.
“It’s crazy,” Norman said. “This was the last thing I was expecting to ever happen to me.”
Road to recovery
Thanks to the support of her family and friends back home, the young woman won’t be saddled with the entire bill. Norman’s sister-in-law, Brittany Norman, set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to help cover the costs.
As of Thursday morning, the family has surpassed their $50,000 target.
“I just can’t get over how supportive Newfoundlanders are, especially the community of Shea Heights,” Norman gushed. “We are one big family in Shea Heights, so whether we go through a joy in life or a tragedy, they just come together and support one another in every way possible.”
Norman is now back in Newfoundland and staying at her sister’s place in Paradise, N.L. while she recovers. She still has some weakness in her left arm and leg that she plans to treat with physical therapy.
Because of the location of the cluster inside Norman’s brain, doctors told her it was unsafe to operate on it. Alternatively, she will have to undergo radiation therapy to destroy the cluster of arteries and veins in her brain to minimize her risk of another stroke in the future.
Even though she’s looking at the possibility of months of recuperation, Norman is optimistic she’ll be able to return to her former healthy lifestyle soon.
“I do expect to make a full recovery,” she said.
