An Auckland mother is thanking the fast thinking of people who saved her life after she crashed her car during a stroke.
Angela Hood suffered a serious stoke while driving last November, crashing into another driver who quickly called 111.
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Stacey Wigley said she saw Ms Hood's car stopped on the side of the road still running, when she knew she had to help.
But it was Sergeant Chris Painter who was the first to identify Ms Hood had had a stroke, with her slurring of words being the first indication.
"That's when I immediately grabbed her hands and asked her to squeeze them for me," said Sgt Painter who knew he needed to get Ms Hood to a hospital fast.
Ms Hood praised their efforts to help her get to hospital fast enough to have a clot retrieval operation.
"Without that short timeframe, there could have been a lot more damage," she said.
Angela wants everyone to learn the FAST message, meaning to identify stroke victims by their Face drooping, Arm weakness and Speech difficulty and then Take Action and call 111.
Newshub.
