SECOND ACT
Quick response times and orchestrated care help Patrick McNally return
to playing for the Spokane Symphony months after suffering a stroke.
"When I first came to the hospital,
I couldn't feel anything in my hand,"
says Patrick McNally, a 40-year-old
father of three and principal bass player
of the Spokane Symphony. "All I could
really feel was cold and hot; I couldn't
feel anything else. By a week and a half,
all that changed."
It happened nearly two years ago. Patrick, a hiker enthusiast
who had just completed a rigorous 24-mile rim-to-rim hike
of the Grand Canyon a week prior, noticed something out
of the ordinary.
"It was the day after our Labor Day concert in 2017,"
Patrick recalls. "I woke up to take my son to school and
when I got out of the shower, half my body was numb."
A quick search of symptoms on his phone confirmed
Patrick's suspicions: He was likely having a stroke.
Wasting no time, he had his wife call 911. Short minutes
later, when the fire department and paramedics arrived,
Patrick's muscles were weakening to the point he had to
be carried down the stairs of his home. "I think they were
a little surprised because I was young," he remembers.
Patrick McNally
Principal bass player
Spokane Symphony
6 HEART BEAT FALL 2019
Watch the video at
youtube.com/ProvidenceSpokane
