How a Smartwatch and New Medical Device Saved this Patient’s Life

We all know that a fitness watch can count steps, but did you also know that it may save lives? In the case of Nancy Daniels, she believes she might not be here today if it wasn’t for her smartwatch, which helped her get immediate stroke care.

A Lucky Call for EMS

Nancy is retired and stays active by spending time outside in the garden and taking walks. Never did she expect to wake up in the ProMedica Toledo Hospital Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with no recollection of how she got there.

The last thing Nancy remembers is her watch saying that it had detected that she had fallen and asking if she wanted emergency medical services (EMS) to be called. “I thought I was OK, and I thought that I had told the watch not to call EMS,” Nancy recalls.

However, Nancy really wasn’t OK – she was having a stroke, which caused her to fall. Thankfully, EMS was still called despite Nancy’s attempt to stop them from being called. This may have been due to Nancy’s speech being affected by the stroke.

When EMS arrived, they took her to a local hospital for treatment. Upon arriving to the hospital, she was transferred via ambulance to Toledo Hospital for specialized stroke care.

A New Device to Clear Blood Clots

As Nancy was enroute to Toledo Hospital, her son was able to sign consent for a new, innovative product to be used to dislodge the blood clot that was causing her stroke.

When she arrived, Syed Zaidi, MD, a neurologist with ProMedica Physicians Neurology – Toledo, was able to use a Millipede aspiration catheter to restore full blood flow to the middle cerebral artery, one of the three major arteries that supplies blood flow to the brain.

The Millipede is a new aspiration catheter used to clear stroke-causing blood clots. This specific catheter has improved flexibility, pushability and kink resistance that allows providers to more accurately and quickly clear clots that are blocking blood flow to the brain.

Treatment happened quickly as soon as Nancy arrived. In fact, the procedure had been completed before Nancy’s family even made it to the hospital.

And when it comes to stroke treatment, prompt treatment matters. The faster you can get medical attention, the better your chances of lowering the long-term effects or preventing death.

“Nancy’s smartwatch probably saved her from an extremely debilitating stroke,” shares Dr. Zaidi.

Just a week and a half after her stroke, Nancy is doing well. “I don’t have any restrictions, and the doctors say that they couldn’t ask for a better recovery,” Nancy shares.

Nancy will wear a heart monitor for 30 days and follow up with her neurologist and cardiologist within the next couple of months. And of course, she continues to wear her smartwatch.