I Have Only Heard Of Pickleball Recently,

and had no idea of how dangerous it was to play, 

or any similar sport for that matter, photographs Kennedy News and Media, Joel Hentrich with his brother Zachary after winning a pickleball tournament, apparently pickleball is similar to tennis, it is an indoor or outdoor racket/paddle sport where two players, or four players, hit a perforated hollow polymer ball over a 36-inch-high net using solid-faced paddles, but Joel Hentrich, a 35-year-old “super-fit” man from Festus, Missouri suffered a freak accident in November of last year, he ruptured a neck artery and suffered three strokes because of turning his head too quickly during a game of pickleball, “The ground went out from underneath me, and I ended up with extreme nausea and I was projectile vomiting. There was tingling on the left side of my face, hand and part of my leg,” the man told SWNS, Fearing the worst, the sportsman was transported to the hospital. Hentrich was initially directed to the waiting room, where 50 to 60 visitors were in line before him, however, the petrified patient alerted another nurse, who immediately activated their protocol for suspected stroke victims and took him in for a CT scan 20 minutes later. He was later sent to intensive care and then for an MRI.

that’s when medics informed him of the horrific news: Hentrich had dissected his artery, which triggered three strokes in his lower cerebellum, the portion of the brain responsible for coordination and movement, “It hit me like a ton of bricks,” recounted the patient. “As a 35-year-old healthy guy, those are words that you just never expect to hear.” he was discharged 12 hours later after being in the hospital for a total of two days. Unfortunately, at that point, he was still several weeks away from qualifying for short-term disability payments, thankfully, a pickleball pal set up a GoFundMe page to help ease Hentrich’s financial strain while he recovers from the traumatic ordeal. The fund-raiser has currently garnered over half of its $6,000 goal, In light of his horrific saga, Hentrich is striving to raise awareness regarding stroke symptoms and the importance of seeking medical care immediately. “With strokes, the main thing I’d tell everybody is that there’s a window of time you need to give treatments, usually three hours is the standard, but the sooner the better,” he said. “Trust your instincts. If you think you should go and get seen, trust that. It might not be something serious, but what if it is?”

thankfully Hentrich even plans to continue playing pickleball — albeit with a little less intensity, I know we all wish Hentrich a speedy and full recovery, and hopefully the story of his reactions may make a difference to someone in similar circumstances, for the full story have a look here.