From being involved with research, to presenting to crowds, and being honoured for her work, Bayluk is bringing stroke information to our community and beyond
Local Selkirk stroke health advocate Shannon Bayluk has had a very busy time recently advocating for cardiovascular health research and spreading the word about how important it is to keep stroke health top of mind.
Her recent adventures include working with the Heart & Stroke Foundation as a presenter, spreading the word about things that people need to know in order to be stroke smart and giving interviews during Stroke Awareness Month.
“I also participated in a webinar to raise awareness for vascular cognitive impairment. It was with two really prominent doctors out of Calgary, and I was their guest, which was just phenomenal to me, that I was the guest. There were almost 1000 people on the webinar. It was just incredible that that many people were on, it was family physicians and people who have had experiences themselves,” she said.
Bayluk herself had her first stroke in 2020. She was working from home at her cottage in Lac du Bonnet and was planning to head into the office later that day. She described her experience when it happened as making a call with a headphone in her ear and then feeling like it had fallen out, then going to reach for it and nothing happening. She didn’t know what was going on but was concerned enough that she called her neighbour for help. They went through the FAST acronym, which stands for face droopiness, arm weakness, speech difficulty, and time is time to call 911, as the thought that it might be a stroke crossed her mind. Unfortunately, though she was experiencing numbness and tingling on her left side at that point, she didn’t know that you need to hold your arms up for a while to make sure to test for one-sided weakness and hadn’t started exhibiting the other symptoms yet. Because of that, she assumed that she had pinched something, and her neighbour went home so that she could rest. Luckily, Bayluk couldn’t get the feeling that something might be wrong out of her head and called Healthlinks. The Healthlinks nurse on the phone recognized the signs that something was wrong and called an ambulance for Bayluk.
Bayluk was 46 when her stroke happened, and, as a younger person, a stroke might not have been the first thought to come to mind, but strokes do happen in younger people and Bayluk advocates for resources for all ages of stroke survivors.
“I love to be a part of that kind of good— spreading information and telling the story from my perspective. The doctors speak, but sometimes it’s tough for people to really take in the numbers and stuff like that, right? It’s (important) to get the personal side, and often that’s where my piece comes in and wraps things in a different light,” she said.
The interviews that she gave during Stroke Awareness Month, like the webinar, went well.
“I always make sure that when I’m giving information outward, that along with my story, I point out that I didn’t present as a typical stroke patient, right? Forty-six years old, healthy, and I didn’t have the stroke symptoms,” she explained.
Bayluk also makes sure that she emphasizes the acronym FAST—face droopiness, arm weakness, speech difficulty, and time is time to call 911 because time is very important when it comes to treating strokes. The sooner that people can get to the hospital, the better, as the medications that help to treat strokes need to be given as soon as possible to work best.
“I always say that no two strokes are the same, and if you’re unsure, you should always attend an ER. The other thing I often reference is the fact that strokes in young adults are often misdiagnosed or it’s just dismissed, which is, in my view, a tragedy, because I know a couple of people from my stroke survival group, from my own personal group of friends, that have had people attend a hospital with migraines and they have been sent home,” she continued.
She feels that it’s important that she take on this role as an advocate and spreads this information.
“We don’t know what we don’t know. A lot of the (presenting) that I try to do is on pre-(stroke information), but also a lot of the (info) is on post-(stroke information) because the post-stroke is where you really find out what you need to do and where the struggles can start. I’m working with a team in Calgary right now. I’m part of a project there, and it is to help patients, survivors, and their caregivers to assist them in what are the next steps? What are the needs of a survivor and the care that they need? It’s not just in Alberta, it’s Canada-wide. We’re having participants from everywhere provide input so that this information can be disseminated everywhere,” said Bayluk.
The name of the research project that she’s involved with is the strokePro research group, and she is on the board as a representative of Manitoba. If other stroke survivors from our region would like to participate in the group, they can contact Bayluk by email at shannon.bayluk@icloud.com for more info.
Bayluk also recently had the honour of receiving a King Charles III Coronation Medal. She was nominated for this honour by Heart & Stoke in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the foundation and their collective efforts to advance heart and brain health in Canada.
She described feeling gobsmacked when she found out that she was going to be presented with this honour.
“There really was no way for me to put into words how it made me feel. I received it in May. There were 22 recipients here in Manitoba (at that presentation), and it ranged from doctors, scientists, philanthropists, Heart and Stroke members, board members, to lowly old me, and some other survivors. It was just incredible people sitting there. It was just a very, very surreal moment to be surrounded by these amazing people,” said Bayluk.
An advocate’s work is never done, however, and she said that in addition to the honour, she was able to make some more connections at the event that she hopes to build on in the future.
As for her near future plans, she’ll be presenting at an event called, ‘The Heart’s Truth Shannon’s Story’ on Aug. 21 in Winnipeg. This event is a fundraiser for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and those who might like to go and hear Bayluk speak can learn more at heartandstroke.crowdchange.ca.
