Derick Gant’s doorbell camera caught the moment he had a stroke during a workout.
TOLEDO, Ohio —
A Toledo man is crediting his Apple Watch and active lifestyle for helping save his life after he suffered a stroke during a workout.
Last July, Derick Gant was in the middle of his daily jump rope routine when the unexpected happened.
“I was having an amazing day,” Gant said.
Wanting to push himself a bit further, Gant jumped for more than a minute without stopping.
“I actually did it. I went about 1 minute and 15 seconds,” he said.
But moments later, he collapsed.
“I was lying there, not really knowing what was going on,” he recalled. “I couldn’t really move my left leg or my left arm.”
His Apple Watch immediately detected the fall and displayed an alert, which he initially ignored.
“It says, ‘It looks like you’re in trouble. Do you need some help?’ And I looked at it and I go, ‘I’m going to be fine in a couple of minutes,’” he said.
But the symptoms didn’t improve and his left side was completely numb.
“I tapped the watch and said, ‘Yes, I need some help,’ and the watch called all of my emergency contacts. It called 911,” Gant said.
Paramedics arrived within minutes. At the hospital, Gant learned he had suffered a stroke — a result of going off his blood thinners, which allowed a clot to travel to his brain.
“I didn’t think it would happen to me, of course, but it was my fault,” he admitted.
Thanks to his quick action, combined with a strong foundation, Gant made a remarkable recovery, nearly 90% within 24 hours.
“Whether it’s activity or watching diet, or making sure that your blood pressure is well controlled, they’re really the biggest predictors of living a longer life without any further events,” said Dr. Mouhammad Jumaa, a vascular and interventional neurologist with ProMedica.
Dr. Jumaa, who treated Gant, also credited wearable technology like Apple Watches for helping more patients reach medical care quickly.
“In the last couple of years, we have a lot of patients coming to us through activation of their Apple Watch or activation of a home device,” he explained. “That’s a very positive change in the sense that you can actually recognize symptoms very early and call 911, where you know this disease every minute matters.”
Today, Gant is fully recovered but he’s using his experience as a wake-up call for others.
“I halfway did the job. So do it all the way and understand that we’re all striving to be 24K. We’re all striving to be gold, which means that we’re trying to be our best,” Gant said. “If you want to be your best, you have to be here to do it.”
May is recognized as Stroke Month.