Stroke 'selfie' helps save Canadian woman's life

The Toronto-area woman was having her third stroke in three days. And this time, she refused to suffer in private.

Yepes recorded a selfie video of her symptoms after pulling over while driving. The next day, the video would help doctors at Toronto Western Hospital correctly diagnose her with transient ischemic attacks, or "mini-strokes," due to plaque buildup in her arteries.

Now, according to Yepes, she is on cholesterol-lowering medication and blood thinners, and hasn't had any more strokes.

Two days before the recording, doctors at a local emergency room in Toronto dismissed her face numbness and slurred speech as stress-related. They told her stroke tests had come back negative and counseled the 49-year-old legal secretary on breathing techniques.

Those were ineffective, and Yepes suffered two additional mini-strokes in consecutive days -- the first leaving the hospital parking lot on April 1.

She knew something had to be done.

"I think it was just to show somebody, because I knew it was not stress-related," she said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. "And I thought if I could show somebody what was happening, they would have a better understanding."

That was exactly what happened. Yepes filmed the third "mini-stroke" the next day en route to work. After arriving, she showed the video to co-workers, who immediately suggested she go to a different hospital.

Still, Dr. Markku Kaste with the World Stroke Organization said he believes Yepes was lucky.

His advice: "Don't waste time on a video, just call 911."