Actress Natasha Richardson died yesterday at the age of 45 after a fall while taking a beginner's lesson at the Mont Tremblant Ski Resort, located 80 miles northwest of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. [more inside]
posted by WCityMike on Mar 19, 2009 - 145 comments

"Mem, mem, mem." A fascinating memoir of global aphasia -- total language loss -- following a stroke, by British poet and novelist Paul West.
posted by digaman on Aug 17, 2007 - 40 comments

"I didn't know I couldn't speak until I tried to speak out loud. I could still hear in my mind myself saying 'this is Jill, I need help'...so when I tried to speak I went wvur wvur wvur and so I sounded like a golden retriever."

In 1996 neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor had a rare kind of stroke (an AVM) that allowed her to maintain consciousness and analyze the effects of half her brain shutting down over the course of four hours. She was interviewed today (mp3) on Sound Medicine and discussed losing her language abilities and the ability to differentiate between herself and the outside world while gaining control over the rebuilding of her mind.
posted by ztdavis on Jan 28, 2007 - 36 comments

Newsfilter: The United States Senate may once again be up for grabs. Senator Tim Johnson, D-SD, 60, has reportedly just suffered a stroke and is currently undergoing tests at The George Washington University Medical Center.
posted by The White Hat on Dec 13, 2006 - 71 comments

The Australian cigarette health warnings have pretty much filtered down to every retail packet that's bought now. They're pretty gruesome and some smoking acquaintances cover them up with stickers. I thought I'd have a look around and see what other countries warnings were like. None of them were pulling any punches except for Uruguay.
posted by tellurian on May 17, 2006 - 118 comments

"At some time in the past, according to both [redacted] and [redacted] the President suffered what one of his aides called "a very minor seizure" and as a result of this, the President has a very difficult time following any unscripted conversations."

Note: this link comes from a rather conspiratorial website [another source], but claims to be a report from a reporter with White House access. [/caveat] Via Easybakecoven.
posted by moonbird on Apr 28, 2004 - 28 comments

Rumours about Saddam Hussein's health. According to a report from Sky News, the Iraqi dictator may have suffered a major stroke or may be dead.
posted by andre_111 on Jan 3, 2001 - 16 comments