Healthy Boston runner Patrick Mascoli suffers sudden stroke at 27 as doctors discover possible cause
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doctors → suffer → cause
As stroke rates continue to rise among young adults, one Boston man is sharing his experience of a life-threatening event at just 27 years old.
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man → continue → event
Patrick Mascoli, an engineer and fitness enthusiast, was regularly running 40 miles a week at the time of his medical emergency.
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Mascoli → run → emergency
Beyond a history of migraines, there were no obvious symptoms or warning signs, he shared with Fox News Digital.
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he → be → Digital
On a Sunday in July 2024, Mascoli went for a 10-mile run and headed to the gym for a lifting session.
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Mascoli → go → session
As he was changing alone in the locker room, something felt suddenly wrong.
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something → change → room
“It just felt like a bomb went off in my head,” he shared with Fox News Digital.
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he → feel → Digital
“The right side of my brain just felt like a severe burning sensation, a lot of pain.
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side → feel → pain
And that came out of nowhere.
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that → come → ?
At first, Mascoli assumed it was related to blood pressure-related fainting episodes he’d had when he was younger, but then his vision grew blurrier and the pain intensified.
“This wasn’t something I had ever experienced before,” he said.
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he → assume → episodes
When Mascoli tried to stand up and step forward, his leg moved to the right instead, sending him into the wall.
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leg → try → wall
“No matter what I was telling my body to do, it just wasn’t working,” he said.
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he → tell → body
“My legs just went in completely opposite directions of the way that I wanted them to.
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them → go → that
And my vision was a complete swirling mess.”
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vision → swirl → ?
Mascoli managed to text his sister before collapsing again.
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Mascoli → manage → sister
As his sister drove to the gym, he lay on the floor, repeatedly vomiting, unable to control his legs and struggling to see.
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he → drive → legs
Stroke briefly crossed his mind, he said, but his age and fitness level made him dismiss it.
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him → cross → it
“I thought a stroke was something that happens to someone who is elderly or has other pre-existing conditions,” Mascoli said.
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Mascoli → think → conditions
“And in my mind, I’m like, ‘I don’t fit that.’”
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I → ’m → that
When his sister arrived, she found Mascoli on the bathroom floor of the gym, drenched in sweat, and called 911.
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she → arrive → 911
First responders initially suspected dehydration because Mascoli was young, appeared healthy and had just run in the heat.
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Mascoli → suspect → heat
He received IV fluids, but there was no improvement, he shared.
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he → receive → fluids
Clinicians also treated him for suspected vertigo, but that didn’t relieve the symptoms.
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that → treat → symptoms
Clinicians at Boston Medical Center later identified the stroke on a CT scan and confirmed it with an MRI, according to Mascoli.
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Clinicians → identify → Mascoli
The next morning, Mascoli’s head pain had subsided, but he still had significant movement problems, particularly on his right side, which he described as “completely useless.”
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he → subside → which
He spent a few days in the hospital, during which he slowly began walking again with the use of a walker.
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he → spend → walker
The diagnosis left Mascoli fearful about his future.
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diagnosis → leave → future
“It was very jarring and terrifying,” he said.
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Searching for answers
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Searching → search → answers
Once the stroke was identified, Mascoli’s care team investigated possible causes.
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team → identify → causes
He underwent extensive blood testing for clotting disorders and other conditions, without clear answers.
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He → undergo → answers
A heart ultrasound using tiny bubbles injected into a vein revealed a patent foramen ovale (PFO) — an opening between the heart’s upper chambers that normally closes shortly after birth.
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that → use → birth
“In most people, it closes shortly after birth – but in others, it does not shut completely,” Dr. Dheeraj Khurana, chief of cardiology at Episcopal Health Services in New York, told Fox News Digital.
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Khurana → close → Digital
Khurana did not treat Mascoli.
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Khurana → treat → Mascoli
“In rare cases, a blood clot passes through this opening, travels to the brain and causes a stroke,” Khurana said.
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Khurana → pass → stroke
Mascoli’s doctors considered the opening the likely route by which a clot reached his brain.
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clot → consider → brain
Most people with the opening experience no related health problems, according to the American Stroke Association.
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people → experience → Association
In younger stroke patients who lack common risk factors and whose initial tests reveal no clear cause, doctors may look for a PFO using an ultrasound of the heart called an echocardiogram, Khurana said.
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Khurana → lack → heart
Mascoli does have a lingering uncertainty about why a clot formed in the first place.
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clot → have → place
“I had none of the genetic predispositions to it.
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I → have → it
…and 26 more, not listed.
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