Roseville ER doctor suffers stroke on way to work, saved by his own team

An emergency room physician who has spent years treating stroke patients suddenly found himself on the other side of the hospital bed after suffering a stroke on his way to work in Roseville.

Dr. Terrence Horan, a 41-year-old emergency medicine specialist at Kaiser Roseville, was driving to another shift when he suddenly lost all movement in his right hand.

"All of a sudden, the right hand just went completely flaccid and dead, and I couldn't move it," Horan said.

Knowing the warning signs, Horan drove himself to the hospital. But before he could even walk inside, his condition rapidly deteriorated.

"I pulled into the parking spot. I've got my wife on the phone. I'm looking at who's on call for neurology and maybe two or three minutes after my arm went dead, suddenly I was having difficulty speaking with her," he said.

In an instant, the doctor became the patient.

Inside Kaiser Roseville's emergency department, Horan's coworkers immediately recognized the urgency.

"We brought him back. We got tele-neurology right away on our computer screen. We got the ER doctor to the bedside, and we got him over to the CT scan quickly," registered nurse Kristen said.

Neurologist Dr. John Geraghty said getting stroke patients to the hospital as quickly as possible can make all the difference.

"If they come in early, then we can evaluate them, and if there is a significant stroke, we can give them the appropriate treatment and try to minimize the damage," Geraghty said.

As doctors searched for the cause of Horan's stroke, they made another unexpected discovery, evidence he had suffered a previous stroke without realizing it. That finding helped guide his treatment and recovery.

Kristen said Horan's case is a reminder that strokes can happen to anyone.

"He is the image of health. He runs marathons, so that this could even happen to someone like that is mind-boggling, truly," she said.

The stroke interrupted Horan's training for the Death Ride, a grueling 103-mile cycling event with more than 14,000 feet of climbing. He wasn't sure he would ever ride again.

One year later, he completed his fifth Death Ride, a milestone he credits to the coworkers who acted within minutes to save his life.

"I got a second chance," Horan said. "If I didn't get such quick care and medications, I might not be able to speak like I'm speaking to you now."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, someone in the United States suffers a stroke about every 40 seconds, underscoring why doctors stress that every minute matters when symptoms begin.

Now, Horan hopes his own experience encourages others to seek emergency care immediately if they notice the warning signs.

"These neurons don't always come back," he said. "The sooner we can stop this blockage, the sooner we can intervene, the better your outcome is going to be and the better your recovery is going to be."