23-Year-old Paramedic With A Neck-Cracking Habit Ruptures Major Artery And Is Left paralyzed

All of us have a habit that we probably shouldn’t have. For some, it may be cracking our knuckles or maybe we drink a little too much soda. There are times, however, when a habit can cause health issues.

A 23-year-old paramedic recognized the difficulty that a neck cracking habit could bring about when she ruptured a major artery. Natalie Kunicki, who works for the London Ambulance Service is now telling others about the dangers of cracking joints.

The paramedic joined the London Ambulance Service after moving from Australia and she was in bed with a friend after spending a night out. She stretched her neck and heard a loud crack. At first, she didn’t think anything of it because it was a habit she had.

About 15 minutes later, she woke up and found that she couldn’t move her left leg. When she tried to walk, she fell on the floor and after being rushed to the hospital, she learned she had a stroke.

When Kunicki stretched her neck in bed that evening, she had ruptured a vertebral artery. That is a major artery in the neck and it caused a blood clot to form in the brain, which triggered the stroke. She was so shocked at the diagnosis that she became ’emotionless’ and stayed that way for a number of days. It took the help of friends to snap her out of it. She said: “People need to know that even if you’re young, something this simple can cause a stroke. Every minute, more of your brain cells are dying, so don’t ever discount a stroke just because someone is young.

“And people need to be more mindful when doing any chiropractic exercises or strenuous gym weights.” Kunicki spoke about the evening that it happened. She said: “I was in bed watching stuff with a friend when it happened. “I stretched my neck, and I could just hear this ‘crack, crack, crack.’ My friend asked ‘Was that your neck?’ but all my joints crack quite a bit, so I didn’t think anything of it. I just laughed. “I fell asleep, and when I woke up about 15 minutes later. I wanted to go to the bathroom, but I could feel this leg on the bed, and I was asking my friend if he could move his leg.

“He told me it was my leg, but I was a bit tipsy, so I wasn’t taking anything seriously and just thought ‘That’s a bit weird.’ I got up and tried to walk to the bathroom, and I was swaying everywhere. I looked down and realized I wasn’t moving my left leg at all, then I fell to the floor.

“My friend had to come and pick me up. He thought I was drunk, but I knew something else was wrong. I thought I had been drugged. The date r*** drug can cause paralysis.” At first, she was hesitant to call emergency services because she didn’t want the crew she worked with to show up and find that she had too much to drink. She tried to go back to sleep but after having more problems, she made the call. She said: “I was trying to call 999, but I was dithering about it. There was a high chance the crew who turned up would be my friends, and I didn’t want them to see me tipsy.

“I tried to go back to sleep, but I couldn’t, so I called 999, and I didn’t recognize the crew who turned up. “I think they did look at me at first like they thought I was just a classic drunk 23-year-old, but I told them I was a paramedic and I knew something was wrong.” Since Kunicki doesn’t smoke and rarely drinks, she didn’t think that she had a stroke. She doesn’t even have a history of family strokes. She said: “I was in shock for about three days in ICU. I was a bit of a wet blanket. I didn’t really say much, and I wasn’t engaging with anyone. I had no sense of humor.

“I was just completely shut off, trying to compute what had happened. People said I was a bit like a robot and didn’t show much emotion. “But a couple of my friends from the ambulance service told me, ‘You have a week from the day of your stroke to snap out of this or we will snap you out of it.’ “I was able to have my little pity party for a week, but that’s it. They told me, ‘What’s done is done now, just work and do all the exercises.’ “They were fantastic, and they would come in and do all the exercises with me.

“I think if I didn’t have them, I would have been in my pity party quite a bit longer, but instead I smashed through all the therapy goals.” Doctors discovered a burst artery when she went through a three-hour surgery at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. They were able to repair the artery with a stent but the blood clot could not be cleared from her brain. Fortunately, they thought that it would dissolve eventually. She said: “I expected to wake up from this miracle surgery and everything would be fixed, but my mobility was worse, and they couldn’t clear the clot. “At the start, I couldn’t move my thumb and forefinger. I could kind of move my wrist up and down. I couldn’t lift my arm. I could bend my left leg, but I couldn’t wiggle my toes.

“The doctors would do tests, I had to close my eyes, and they would touch my left side, but I couldn’t tell where they were touching. “It was like when you have really bad sunburn and your skin is sizzling. I felt that all down my left side. “I think I scared my consultant because after I woke up, she came in to ask how I was going, but I told her, ‘You should have killed me.’“Depression is really common after a stroke because you lose so much of your independence and your dignity. “I had to have a nurse help me shower in a wheelchair. What 23-year-old needs someone to help them shower and wash their hair? It was just a bit surreal.”

Eventually, she was able to recover and feel much better. Now she wants other people to know about the possibility of strokes in young individuals, something that she was surprised to learn. She explained: “I have been called out to so many people having strokes, and they’re always in their 70s or 80s. I have never been to a young person having a stroke. “Mine was one in a million, but a ruptured vertebral artery is actually quite a common cause of strokes in young people.

“They will be in the gym or doing something quite physical, and it happens. Strokes are also quite common in kids. “It was a shock for me. I thought as a professional I would have an idea, but even I didn’t know. “Normally, if you’re called out to a young person, you wouldn’t do a test for a stroke. “I’m lucky that I’m a paramedic, and when I told the crew I knew something was wrong, they listened. “But there was a chance that they could have not taken me seriously, so it’s really important for me to raise awareness that this can happen.”