HIMPower Magazine HimPower November 2017 | Page 19

S
ometimes you can do all the right
these are first attacks, and 185,000 are recurrent
things…eat healthier, incorporate
attacks. Nearly three-quarters of all strokes occur
exercise and monitor your vital
in people over the age of 65.”
www.strokecenter.org/patients/about-stroke/stroke-statistics
signs--especially when managing
You may be wondering why Coach AC’s
health issues. Yet, even with your due dili-
results were so different from those cited
gence, factor in long work hours in a stress-
ful occupation, and a stroke could be in the above by the UT Southwestern Medical
Center Department of Neurology and
making--with little or no warning. So, what
Neurotherapeutics?
is an otherwise healthy
While we can’t say with
person to do?
certainty, there are three
Coach Anthony
strong indictors that
Criss, Head Football
significantly increased
Coach and Assistant
his chances of recovery.
Athletic Director, Sam
First, Coach AC
Houston High School
was proactive. When
(Arlington, TX) has
he was diagnosed with
become somewhat of
high blood pressure
an unofficial expert
and Type 2 Diabetes, he
on the subject. Coach
didn’t wait. He made the
AC, as he is affection-
decision then to adapt
ately called, became an
a healthier lifestyle.
unwitting expert after
Rather than consuming
surviving a stroke and
the same foods and
regaining his health in
Coach Criss during the game
following the same
a way that confounded
his doctors and nurses. His inspiring story is behaviors that got him there in the first
place, he used wisdom and began making
remarkable, God’s grace undeniable.
smarter choices, like eating healthier and
Unfortunately, many stroke victims
adapting a healthier lifestyle. There are
have had very different outcomes. “Stroke is
many choices in life, those that bless us are
the third leading cause of death in the United
the ones made with godly wisdom.
States. More than 140,000 people die each year
Secondly, he wasn’t too stubborn or
from stroke in the United States. Stroke is the
proud to seek help. When he showed signs
leading cause of serious, long-term disability
of having a stroke, the people around him
in the United States. Each year, approximately
795,000 people suffer a stroke. About 600,000 of encouraged him to get checked out and
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