Submitted by St. Dominic’s
(From left) Jeremy and Lauren Pogue, Amber Herron (St. Dominic’s Comprehensive Stroke Center Program Manager), and Dr. Ruth Fredericks (St. Dominic’s Comprehensive Stroke Center Co-Medical Director, wh
Last year, a young mom from Meridian experienced an uncommon type of stroke, a subarachnoid hemorrhage, and was airlifted to St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson for treatment at its Comprehensive Stroke Center. Lauren Pogue, now 36, not only survived but has experienced a phenomenal recovery.
Lauren’s husband, Jeremy, is a flight paramedic working for an air medical company. He had just gotten home from work on March 2, 2022, when they realized something was wrong. While she was still able to speak clearly, Lauren pointed to her left temple, which was a thunderclap headache — but then her speech became slurred, and she passed out. When she woke up, her speech had changed, and nothing she said made sense. Jeremy recognized the symptoms of stroke and called the medical company he worked for to send a helicopter.
“We’re a good 35 minutes from the nearest hospital, and it’s not a stroke center,” Jeremy said. “I’ve transferred a lot of injured and sick brains around the state. There wasn’t a question mark of where to go — St. Dominic’s.”
The family lives a two-hour drive from St. Dominic’s with their three daughters, ages 8, 10 and 12. Jeremy was able to arrange an ambulance helicopter landing in their front yard. The crew treated and stabilized Lauren on site and took her to St. Dominic to treat her hemorrhagic stroke.
“From the time this happened, care was turned over in 55 minutes,” Jeremy says. “The timeframe was really miraculous. It’s a big part of why she has recovered.”
A multidisciplinary team surrounded Lauren to provide her care. The neurosurgery procedure to stop the bleeding and decrease further risk was successful overall. However, Lauren hit a lot of roadblocks along the way. Lauren’s left internal carotid artery was so damaged it had to be sacrificed. After waking up from the craniotomy, Lauren experienced vasospasms, meaning a brain blood vessel narrowed, blocking blood flow.
During her surgery, Lauren had an encounter with God. “He made the way for me, and when I was in the hospital, He showed me,” Lauren said. “I was with Him, I saw Him, and God was with me.” He told her: “You’re going to be OK.”
Lauren was paralyzed for about two and a half weeks, but she did regain movement, from a wheelchair to being able to walk again. Lauren is now living with some speech and vision deficits, but everything else is essentially unaffected, which is uncommon in patients who’ve had subarachnoid hemorrhages.
“Most people don’t have this level of recovery,” Jeremy said. “We’re blessed and fortunate and realize that. God uses doctors and nurses and anybody in the medical field to help people recover. It’s unbelievable what’s occurred over the last year.”
Learn more about St. Dominic’s Comprehensive Stroke Center and your risk of stroke by visiting stdom.com.
