'I'm 23 years old and I just had a stroke': Arizona man goes viral after COVID-19 experience - USA TODAY

Riley Behrens, 23, is a young and healthy former rugby player.

Behrens was most surprised to see, though, that there were other people in their early 20s commenting how they had experienced the same symptom after contracting COVID-19 that he had — a mild stroke?

A week ago, Behrens had no idea that young people all over the world were having TIAs, or transient ischemic attacks, as complications of the novel coronavirus. .

Several studies, including one from the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, have shown evidence of neurological complications of COVID-19 in people who have no risk factors for them and who are otherwise mildly symptomatic. .

"I never heard that this was a thing, I never heard of other people having it," Behrens told The Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, on Tuesday.

"You say stroke, and I think, 'Grandpa, Grandma can have a stroke, not me.' There's just no way.".

I'm 23 years old and I just had a stroke due to Covid-19 complications.

Ahead of his trip home to the San Francisco Bay Area planned for Thanksgiving, Behrens said that he made sure to quarantine for two weeks in his apartment in Tempe, Ariz.

Riley Behrens, 23, sits in his hospital bed at Chandler Regional Medical Center after a TIA, or a mild stroke, on Nov.

The doctors suspected a stroke, but at that time, Behrens couldn't believe it.

Honestly, when I hear the word 'stroke,' I think of people my dad's age.

"I'm not walking my dog on long walks," Behrens said.

Luay Shayya, a neurologist with Neurology Consultants of Arizona, said that Behrens' case is not isolated. Shayya has not treated Behrens but spoke about the disease generally.

about patients who are young having large strokes due to COVID," Shayya said, although he has not treated a case himself

"It's very unusual for young people to have strokes to begin with."

One explanation for why this happens is that COVID-19 is causing blood clots to form that then travel up to the brain, Shayya said

With some rehabilitation and therapy, young people generally have a good prognosis for recovery after a TIA

More: The young die as well from COVID-19, even as many engage in denial

He wanted to show other young people that severe complications can happen to them, too