What is a stroke, are they deadly ?

A stroke, or cerebral vascular accident (CVA), is damage to the brain caused by loss of blood supply to the brain. Strokes occur as a result of an embolism, thrombosis, or hemorrhage. Specifically, an embolism is a fragment of a blood clot or other foreign particle that travels in the blood vessel until it obstructs blood flow. A cerebral hemorrhage results from blood leaking out of the vessels into the cranium. This blood forms a clot and begins to compress and destroy local brain tissue. Effects of a stroke depend on which blood vessels have been affected by the accident, and whether or not it was a large or small stroke. If it occures in a large vessel, death can occure. Some symptoms include A patient with a large stroke will immediately have laboured breathing Weakness to a part of the body, decreased sensation Numbness, tingling, severe headache, slurred speech and memory impairment Loss of coordination, difficulty in swallowing Urinary incontinence, and lack of control of bowel movement Paralysis on one side of the body Inability to speak; inability to understand spoken and written language Uncontrollable eye movement, drooling, eye lid dropping, strange behaviour