Paris Lee's Story: I Had a Stroke at 26, While Pregnant

Paris Lee was just 26 years old when she had a stroke in January 2020. She was also pregnant.

“On the day I hit my third trimester I had a mild headache and felt ‘off’ pretty much that whole day,” she explains. “It was a little abnormal for me, but when you’re pregnant you think maybe you’re just dehydrated or tired.”

By the end of the night, Paris’ headache was significantly worse, and she started vomiting. Then, more concerning symptoms began.

“I started losing function – I couldn’t speak or walk. I don’t have any memory of what happened after that, but the ambulance was called and I was taken to ProMedica Flower Hospital, where they did a CT scan. It showed I had a significant amount of blood in my brain,” Paris explains.

Quick care was needed to make sure that Paris and her baby would be OK.

A Brain Bleed That Led to a Stroke

Paris had experienced a rupture of an arteriovenous malformation, or AVM.

“An AVM is an abnormal connection between arteries and veins,” explains Mouhammad Jumaa, MD, a vascular and interventional neurologist. “It creates high pressure within a collection of unhealthy blood vessels.”

Individuals with AVMs are usually born with them or develop them at a young age. Some people with an AVM may not experience any health problems. Other individuals with an AVM may have headaches, seizures, stroke-like events and brain bleeds. If an AVM ruptures, it can be life-threatening.

Unfortunately, Paris’ AVM rupture led to a stroke. The hemorrhagic, or bleeding, stroke meant that her brain wasn’t getting the blood it needed for oxygen and nutrients.

Paris was transferred to ProMedica Toledo Hospital’s neuro ICU (intensive care unit). There, she received an AVM embolization.

“An AVM embolization is a minimally invasive procedure that allows us to block the ‘feeding’ arteries and reduce the pressure in the AVM. This is usually combined with open surgery or radiation treatment to completely obliterate the AVM” explains Dr. Jumaa.

At the hospital, Paris struggled to understand what was happening. “I kept asking, ‘Where is my mom?’ and saying, ‘I want my mom’ when she was in the room with me the whole time, so I was very confused,” she recalls.

Paris stayed in the nuero ICU for two weeks before being discharged. Her care team advised that she may not be the same as before. They weren’t sure if she’d be able to have the same function and how it would affect her baby.

A New Mom and a Recovering Patient

Just two months later, Paris gave birth to her son through a scheduled C-section at 37 weeks pregnant. He’s now a healthy, active five-year-old boy.

“It is very much a miracle story because he was perfect,” Paris says. “I’m very thankful that he was born healthy.”

The very next day after Paris’ C-section, Toledo Hospital joined hospitals across Ohio in a lockdown at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the months to follow, Paris balanced recovering from an AVM rupture, a stroke and a C-section with being a new mom at the start of a global pandemic.

“I was healing from the stroke, the brain bleed and the C-section. Being a first-time mom is scary enough. I didn’t really have a lot of help because we didn’t know what COVID was or how it spread at the time,” Paris explains.

After her first son was born, she took nearly six months off work to physically recover.

“My recovery felt long because I was so weak,” Paris says. “I delivered my son at 120 pounds, and I was skin and bones.”

Over the months, she rebuilt her strength with at-home exercises and bicycling. She also had to work on her coordination and stability.

In 2023, Paris had a procedure that confirmed that the AVM was completely obliterated. In September 2024, an MRI also confirmed that there was no AVM. That’s when she was told it was safe for her to conceive again. Now, she’s expecting her second child.

Sharing Her Story To Raise Awareness and Hope

Paris has been a nurse with Toledo Hospital for more than 10 years. She currently cares for patients in the Cardiac Cath Lab. Even as a nurse, she didn’t recognize the signs of stroke in herself because she was so young. But she’s thankful she knew that something was wrong.

“I just didn’t feel right to lay down and try to sleep it off. Who knows what would have happened if I just ignored it,” she says. “Time is everything when you’re having a stroke. Listen to your body and advocate for yourself when you feel like something isn’t right.”

Paris did not know she had an AVM until it ruptured. Dr. Jumaa, who treated Paris, encourages individuals who do know they have an AVM to work with a neurointerventional expert or a cerebrovascular neurosurgeon. He says, “Our multidisciplinary team provides patients with neurology experts to manage other AVM symptoms, such as headaches and seizures.”

Now, Paris shares her story with patients to encourage them on their health journey.

“I enjoy sharing my story with them because I do feel like it provides hope to a lot of patients who are really scared and don’t know what the future holds. It was a very scary time for me, for sure, and the recovery was long,” Paris says. “The power of prayer is real, and I’ll forever stand on that.”