For many, the act of cracking your neck may seem like a minor and harmless habit, but for a young paramedic, what began as a simple neck crack led to unforeseen consequences.
In 2019, 23-year-old Natalie Kunicki had just returned from a night out with friends and was relaxing at home, watching movies in bed. She stretched her neck and heard a loud crack.
Initially, she paid little attention to it, even when questioned by her friend about whether the noise originated from her neck.
Natalie recalled, “All my joints crack quite a bit, so I didn’t think anything of it. I just laughed.”
Fifteen minutes later, she attempted to get up to use the bathroom, but her leg wouldn’t move, causing her to collapse.
Only then did the alarming reality begin to set in.
Natalie, who is employed by the London Ambulance Service, had inadvertently ruptured her vertebral artery, a crucial artery in the neck.
A blood clot subsequently formed in her brain, obstructing oxygen and resulting in a stroke.
She stated, “People need to know that even if you’re young, something this simple can cause a stroke.”
Natalie confessed she was reluctant to dial 999 due to not wanting colleagues she knew to find her in an inebriated state.
She explained, “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.”
Natalie added, “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.”
Once at the hospital, it was confirmed that Natalie’s vertebral artery had ruptured, causing the stroke.
She underwent a three-hour surgery where surgeons utilized a stent to repair the artery, although the clot in her brain could not be completely removed.
She expressed, “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.”
The stroke resulted in partial paralysis on her left side.
Natalie shared further, “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.”
After months of rehabilitation, she regained movement on her left side, although her walking capacity is limited to ‘for more than five minutes’.
Dedicated to raising awareness about strokes in young individuals, Natalie stated, “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.”