Hailey Bieber, 25-year-old model and wife of singer Justin Bieber, was admitted to the hospital with stroke-like symptoms on March 10, 2022.
In a YouTube video posted on Wednesday, she describes her experience as the "scariest moment of her life" and reveals details of the incident.
"Basically, I was sitting at breakfast with my husband [Justin Bieber], having a normal day, normal conversation and we were in the middle of talking and all of a sudden, I felt this really weird sensation that kind of like traveled down my arm from my shoulder all the way down to my fingertips...It made my fingertips feel really numb and weird," she explains.
Recalling the incident, she says, "the right side of my face started drooping, I couldn't get a sentence out."
"Immediately, I thought I was having a stroke," she states, adding that she was lucky to have a medic on site who was able to examine her.
Hailey was then rushed to the hospital, where the doctors determined that she suffered a small blood clot to her brain, which was labeled and categorized as a TIA, a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA).
TIA is also sometimes called a mini stroke, which is a temporary period of symptoms similar to those of a stroke.
According to her doctors, there were three factors that had caused the blood clot in her brain.
"One was that I just recently started taking birth control pills, which I should have never been on because I am somebody who suffered from migraines anyway,” she explained. “And I just did not talk to my doctor about this.”
Secondly, she had also recently had COVID-19 and had been traveling " "from Paris and back in a really short amount of time." Therefore, she calls it "the perfect storm" for her blood clot.
However, the doctors weren't sure of why the clot had traveled to her brain.
Later, she visited UCLA, where she was diagnosed with a grade 5 PFO (the highest grade possible) after undergoing a transcranial doppler, an ultrasound that uses sound waves to detect blood flow to the brain.
“The conclusion was that I had a blood clot that traveled into my heart and instead of — what typically happens if you have a small blood clot is that the heart will filter the blood clot to your lungs and your lungs will absorb it,” she explained.
“What happened with me is my blood clot actually escaped through the flap, or the hole in my heart, and it traveled to my brain and that is why I suffered a TIA,” she adds.
Baldwin Bieber then underwent a heart procedure to close the PFO by inserting a small object through the femoral vein in her groin to close the small hole. According to her, the surgery went "very smoothly" and she's recovering fully.
"The biggest thing I feel is I just feel really relieved that we were able to figure everything out, that we were able to get it closed, that I will be able to move on from this really scary situation and just live my life," she says.
She is currently on aspirin and blood thinners and shared that she is no longer having any symptoms.
FAQs
What is a stroke?
A stroke occurs when the blood supply to various parts of the brain is disrupted, preventing brain tissues from getting oxygen and nutrients.What are the types of stroke?
There are two types of stroke: Ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke. What is a transient ischemic attack (TIA)?
A transient ischemic attack (TIA), sometimes known as a ministroke, is a temporary period of symptoms similar to those in a stroke.What are the symptoms of TIA?
Symptoms of a transient ischemic attack include weakness, numbness or paralysis in the face, leg, arm, along with slurred speech, partial or full vision loss, vertigo and loss of balance.
