THANKFUL OLYMPIAN
Girlfriend saw signs of stroke
As a teenager, Josie Spence lost her dad Owen — a respected member of Canada’s speedskating community — to a fall off a ladder.
At age 22, Spence could have lost her boyfriend, speedskater Denny Morrison, to a stroke that happened before her eyes. She didn’t panic when she saw the signs. She just took action.
“You wouldn’t think that such a healthy young man would get something like this,” says Spence, who is also a member of the national speedskating team. “But I know Denny, and he wasn’t acting like he normally does.”
Relying on her training as a lifeguard at the Kamloops Aquatics Centre, Spence noticed the signs of a stroke on Saturday afternoon — slurred speech, droopy face and weakness in the left side that caused Morrison’s left flip-flop to keep falling off — and arranged for a friend to drive them to a local hospital.
“I was just so happy that we were somewhere safe and he was being taken care of,” Spence says of arriving in the emergency room. “I was thankful there were people who knew what they were doing around.”
Initially, doctors thought the four-time Olympic medallist would require emergency surgery. He was rushed to a major medical centre by ambulance, and, on the drive, he suddenly, inexplicably, improved.
“I’m just so thankful and grateful that his body was able to handle it,” Spence says.
Morrison, 30, was discharged from hospital Tuesday, and the pair flew back home to Calgary.
An MRI and CT scan in Utah confirmed he suffered a brain blood clot and carotid artery dissection — the most common cause of stroke in young adults. Carotid artery dissection occurs when the layers of the wall separate in the artery that supplies oxygen-bearing blood to the brain.
The arterial damage can occur in motor vehicle collisions, and Morrison is approaching the oneyear anniversary of a motorcycle crash near Calgary’s Olympic Oval.
The Fort St. John, B.C. native broke his femur, punctured his lung, ruptured his kidneys and bruised his heart last May 7 when his motorcycle crashed into a left-turning car. He also suffered a concussion, tore a knee ligament and chipped his spine. The impact of the collision knocked the car over on its side, and a police officer on scene wondered out loud how the motorcyclist could have survived.
After 10 months of gruelling rehab, Morrison returned to racing in March.
Through Speed Skating Canada, Morrison issued a statement thanking Spence for noticing the signs and possibly saving his life.
“It was really scary,” Spence says.
“I’m just really thankful he was still there and able to communicate with me and look me in the eyes. He was still there mentally and he was able to tell me how he was feeling.”
After Morrison sees the doctor in Calgary, Speed Skating Canada is expected to provide an update on his condition.
“The next step for him is just to rest,” Spence says. “His goal is still the 2018 Winter Olympics, but right now it’s just step by step.”