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A stroke is a sudden, potentially catastrophic event. In the blink of an eye, a clot can block a blood vessel that feeds brain tissue, or a blood vessel in the brain bursts. Either way,

brain cells are starved of nutrients and oxygen, or damaged by pooling blood, and begin to die. And they go fast — at a rate of about 2 million per minute. That dying tissue can show up as

a facial droop and weakness, often on just one side of the body, or speech and balance problems, among other symptoms. These signs are important to recognize, because if any of them are

present, what you decide to do next could be the difference between recovery and severe disability or death. “It used to be that you couldn’t do much about stroke. But nowadays we can,” says

David Miller, M.D., an interventional radiologist and codirector of the Comprehensive Stroke Center at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. “We can actually do a lot for stroke if we

get people to help in a timely fashion.” He says this is particularly true for ischemic stroke, which accounts for about 87 percent of strokes, according to the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention (CDC). IF YOU THINK SOMEONE IS HAVING A STROKE Call 911 immediately. The goal is speed, not only because the brain is rapidly dying but also because the window for certain

stroke treatments is narrow. “As soon as you cut the blood flow off to the brain, the clock starts ticking,” Miller says. Calling 911 does two crucial things: It brings help to your door,

and it primes the entire medical system and the nearest stroke team for action. “When you dial 911, you activate a series of protocols that have been created across the United States to

shave down treatment time,” says William “BJ” Hicks II, M.D., a vascular neurologist and codirector at the Riverside Methodist Hospital Comprehensive Stroke Center in Columbus, Ohio. While

you wait for the paramedics to arrive, get the person to the floor or the ground, so they can’t fall, and try to keep them calm until help arrives. Some stroke patients will pass out, but

many do not, Miller says. “They are just very confused and unable to grasp what’s going on.”