Tim Buckley always thought of himself as athletic and in shape. What he didn’t know, was that he had been living with a hole in his heart that was about to change his life.
In October of 2024, Tim was refereeing a soccer game in Adams, NY. He was walking around the field when he fell. Luckily, he fell down right in front of an EMT who was tending to a player. The EMT asked him if he was okay. Tim immediately replied that he was fine, but then couldn’t move his left side when trying to get up.
That was when the EMT told Tim he was having a stroke.
“I said ‘no, just get me water,’ but I couldn’t drink it. I kept disagreeing with the EMT,” Tim said. “I told him ‘you’re overreacting.’ I felt like I had just tripped, but the fact that I couldn’t move my arm felt wrong.”
Tim eventually gave in and accepted them something was very wrong. He took an ambulance ride to a Syracuse hospital.
“There were lots of people waiting for me at the ER,” he said of the medical team that had already been activated to treat his stroke. Tim quickly received a clot busting drug and could start moving his hand within about 15 minutes.
After his stroke, Tim’s doctors discovered that he had a patent foramen ovale (PFO) or hole in the heart, that likely lead to the stroke. He was born with it, but spent his life not knowing it was there. Three months after his stroke, Tim had a procedure to close the hole.
“I consider myself lucky,” said Tim. “I’m still taking meds and following up with my doctor, but I can still do the things I like to do, like play sports.”
Tim also knows that he was lucky someone else spotted his stroke.
“I remembered the FAST acronym, but not what it stood for,” he said. “If I was alone, the likelihood of me calling 911 is pretty low. Fortunately for me, I was in a place where someone said, ‘this is what’s happening.’”
Tim has since learned a lot about stroke and knows that FAST can help you spot the signs: Face drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulty, Time to call 911.
“When I think of a stroke, I think of someone who is 85-years-old, smokes, drinks and has a bad diet. I’m the opposite of that. It can happen to anyone at anytime,” Tim said. Tim is sharing his story as the North Country Heart Walk Inspirational Honoree to help promote awareness of stroke and inspire others that recovery is possible. You can join Tim at the North Country Heart Walk on Saturday, April 12th.