'Dangerously uninformed about stroke'

The link (below) tells the story of a stroke survivor and points out a sad - but obvious - fact. Stroke risk factors and stroke symptoms are not well know.

Read the story about the survivor and the cold facts about stroke prevention and symptoms:

Stroke, which strikes some 795,000 Americans each year and kills about 130,000, is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S. and a leading cause of disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There are roughly 6.8 million stroke survivors in the U.S. And yet it is largely misunderstood.

"The public is dangerously uninformed about stroke," said Jim Baranski, CEO of the National Stroke Association, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Englewood, Colo.

Strokes happen in the brain, but the underlying causes often begin in the cardiovascular system. The good news is that 80 percent of strokes can be prevented, Baranski said, if people control the risk factors that make them more susceptible and recognize early stroke signs.

Check out the stroke signs with this video: