Want to know what it's like to have a stroke? Do this: sit in the armchair, rest your head on the headrest and imagine that you have lost control of your body. You cannot move your arms and legs a millimeter. You cannot speak because only strange sounds are coming from your mouth and all you see is a blurry image. All you can do is wait for someone to come to your rescue.

"Weird trance"

13 May this year, Jacek Rozenek - a man of many professions, talents and passions, popular film, television, theater and dubbing actor, known to viewers, for example, for the role of Artur Chowanieński in the series "Colors of Luck", but also a reader, journalist , radio and TV presenter, entrepreneur, writer and business trainer, left Warsaw on a route leading to the coast. In one of the seaside towns, guests of the event he was going to conduct were waiting for him. After some time, as was his custom, he left the road to rest in the parking lot and …

- I was convinced that I fell asleep, but it was rather a strange trance - recalls Mr. Jacek. - When I woke up and looked at my watch, I was horrified to see that it was 3:30 p.m., which meant that the event I was supposed to host had long since started. I wanted to pick up the phone and call the organizer to justify myself, but I couldn't move. My arms and legs refused to obey me. Approx. time. At 4:00 p.m., the caretaker of the parking lot came to my car. He asked what was wrong with me. I muttered that I was feeling unwell, so he called an ambulance quickly. I do not know how long I would have stayed in the car, if not for this man who became interested in a lonely car.

Couldn't find the simplest words

The ambulance team took Jacek Rozenek to the nearest hospital. There it turned out that this "strange trance" was a stroke.

- I had classic symptoms. Hemiplegia, that is half of the body - in my right, speech difficulties and aphasia. I understood everything that was said to me, I was aware, I had no gaps in my memory, but when I wanted to say something, I couldn't find the simplest words - recalls Mr. Jacek.

Jacek Rozenek found out much later that it was a stroke.

- In the hospital that I first went to, they didn't really know how to take care of me. They just told me to calm downand breathed slowly. But I knew something serious was going on. Especially when the second attack has arrived. When my relatives came to visit me, we were convinced that it was only for us to see each other for the last time. However, they took a risk and decided to take me to the Central Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Interior and Administration at ul. Wołoska in Warsaw. I only got there 3 days after my stroke. Only then did the treatment begin - says Mr. Jacek. However, he does not hide his regret to the doctors that although he had been there a few months earlier, no one informed him that he was in danger of a stroke.

Heart to exchange

In February this year, Jacek Rozenek felt so weak that he could hardly stay on his feet. - I - a strong, athletic guy who cares about his condition - smiles Mr. Jacek.

The first diagnosis is pneumonia. The activated antibiotic therapy did not improve Mr. Jacek's condition.

- So I went to the doctor again, and he referred me to the hospital emergency room. Before I went there, I called the director of the Kamienica Theater in Warsaw and canceled my participation in the performance - recalls Mr. Jacek.

Echocardiographic examination (the so-called ECHO of the heart) showed in Mr. Jacek the ejection fraction at the level of only 10%. To clarify: the ejection fraction is one of the basic cardiological parameters. It tells about the efficiency of the heart and determines the percentage of blood that is ejected from the left ventricle during each contraction. Normal values ​​range from 50 to 60 percent. With the ejection fraction below 50% heart failure is already diagnosed, and with a fraction below 35% it is necessary to implant a cardioverter - defibrillator.

- Let me put it more vividly: my 10 percent. the ejection fraction meant that my heart was so badly damaged that it could only be replaced with new ones. Doctors warned me that I might not survive another attack, but no one mentioned to me that I could still "get" a stroke and a clot as large as mine - says Jacek Rozenek.

I made a decision not to get on the stroller

After hospital treatment, Jacek Rozenek first went to a rehabilitation center in Konstancin.

- They saw my results there and refused to touch me. The center in Gryfice took care of my rehabilitation. There, in just 2 months, they brought me to "usable condition" - recalls Mr. Jacek.

Daily exercises lasted 6 hours Jacek Rozenek laughs that he wanted to exercise even 8 hours, but the facility did not have such human resources. He was taken care of by: a rehabilitator and a speech therapist. Because he was intellectually perfectly fit and the heart ejection fraction had startedimprove - the range of exercises was gradually increased.

- No, I didn't use a wheelchair. I preferred to stumble, fall, get up on my own, than get on it. I was sure I would regain full fitness, as long as it didn't take. What surprised me the most in post-stroke rehabilitation was the enormous amount of effort that must be put in to restore proper muscle function. This effort is much greater than the one we usually put in the gym to "develop" these muscles - says Mr. Jacek.

Because people need to know

Doctors recommended Jacek Rozenek a year of peace, but this one, already in September, began to slowly return to work.

- My heart ejection fraction is already at the level of 40%, post-stroke paralysis is subsiding, I walk almost normally, the grasping reflex in my hand is preserved. Although, I admit that bad days happen to me and I "miss" single words, so I did not decide to return to the "stage of the theater". But I am already driving a car and starting to read complicated literature, so I returned to training in public speaking, and soon I will stand in front of the camera again on the set of the production of the series "Barwy Szczęścia" - declares Mr. Jacek.

The relatives of Mr. Jacek also urged him to slow down.

- In fact, I worked a lot before my stroke. In one month, I was able to drive 15,000 kilometers by car. But when I hear someone say: "You've worked too much, now take a rest," I'm furious. Because what does it mean: you have worked too much? Nowadays, we all work too much because life forces us to do it. But I think we should know what threatens our he alth - explains Mr. Jacek.

This is why Jacek Rozenek not only returned to professional activity, but also became socially involved. He joined the nationwide STOP UDAROM social campaign, under which the IMPACT ALERT campaign is carried out. Why?

- Before the stroke, I didn't know anything about him, his symptoms, or how to help a person with a stroke. Now I know that it is not true that only the elderly are affected by stroke. In the rehabilitation center, I saw many young people after a stroke. Therefore, I do not accept this explanation that a stroke comes from overwork. Does a 15-year-old girl get a stroke because she is overworked? I owe my life to a man who just walked over to my car. I know that I am among the lucky ones who have been saved. But many people did not get help on time, because there was no man with them who would know the symptoms of this disease and react quickly. So I hope thanks to my storyPoles will be interested in what a stroke is, what symptoms it has and how to react when it occurs. This knowledge is provided by the organizers of the IMPACT ALERT campaign, explains Jacek Rozenek.

More about the IMPACT ALERT campaign at http://stopudarom.pl/alert-udarowy/

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