Stroke at 28

When Melissa Wing had an ischemic stroke in her 20s, rapid treatment helped her make a near-full recovery. And the surprising diagnosis that followed may have saved her life.

Twenty-eight-year-old Melissa was enjoying a farewell party on the beach with friends in Victoria, BC, when something felt off. One side of her face began to droop. “I don’t feel well,” she thought. “My face is drooping — but I can’t be having a stroke. People my age don’t have strokes.” 

Her partner, Cole, noticed what was happening too. Alarmed, he and Melissa quickly ran through the FAST acronym — Face, Arms, Speech, Time — and knew they couldn’t take any chances.  By the time they arrived at Victoria General Hospital, Melissa’s symptoms had worsened. Her right arm and hand were sluggish, her face drooped more severely, and her speech was completely gone.  

“I could still think clearly,” she recalls, “but my mouth couldn’t figure out how to say the words.” 

Melissa was seen by an emergency physician within 15 minutes, rushed for a CT scan, and then given clot-busting medication. As Melissa and Cole had feared — it was an ischemic stroke. 

Over the next four days in hospital, Melissa slowly began to regain movement and speech. One nurse, whose name she wishes she remembered, offered comfort and motivation when Melissa was struggling to put a thought into words. 

“She had a million other things to do,” Melissa recalls, “but she sat beside me and said, ‘Don’t worry, work it out — you’re going to get better every day, every hour, every minute. If you have something you want to say to me, I’ll sit here and I’ll wait.’” 

Within two weeks, Melissa was speaking again, and her smile was back — though slightly asymmetrical. By the third week, she could raise her right eyebrow and wink. Melissa was feeling like Melissa again.  

To retrain her right hand, she painted her nails daily, sharing her progress on Instagram. She also started volunteering at the Victoria Therapeutic Riding Association, working with horses to rebuild her motor skills and confidence. But extreme light sensitivity remained a huge challenge, as it made screen time unbearable. Melissa wondered what that would mean for her career. After months of trial and error, she found relief in prism lenses — “these bad boys,” she jokes, pointing to her glasses. 

Melissa’s stroke interrupted her master’s degree, but not for long. She finished her program at the University of Victoria and now works in her dream field: researching history and preserving archives. 

“I was terrified I’d have to give up everything I loved,” she says. “But I didn’t. I got it all back.” 

Ironically, the stroke may have saved her from another life-threatening condition. During her hospital stay, doctors discovered she had bicuspid valve disease — a congenital heart condition causing a small, but manageable, aortic aneurysm. Now, she monitors her heart with regular scans. “It’s crazy to think about,” she says. “Which is why I’m grateful for my stroke every day, in a weird way.”  

Earlier this year, she had the chance to surprise and meet Dr. Michael Hill, whose groundbreaking research has helped many more people recover from stroke and regain their independence. She shares her gratitude in this Heart & Stroke video.

Today, Melissa uses her experience to raise awareness. She quizzes friends on stroke symptoms and reminds them that strokes don’t just happen to older people. 

“Knowing FAST saved my life,” she says. “It can save yours too.”

• See the researchers working on more life-saving breakthroughs
• Learn more about stroke research and recovery 
• See how EVT is changing outcomes for people living with stroke