If My Golden Retriever Puppy Hadn’t Woken Me, I’d Be Dead

When Len, an Australian woman in her 40s, started her bedtime routine on July 16, 2024, she had no idea that everything was about to change.

Alone at home, she suddenly started experiencing changing confusion, sudden paralysis, and total loss of sensation on the right side of her body.

“I was putting on my pajamas when it felt like snakes were moving inside my clothes,” Len, who didn’t share a surname, told Newsweek. “My right hand clamped shut and I couldn’t open it. When I went to stand I fell back onto the bed. My face felt strange too, like a droopy feeling. [I] flopped backwards in a lying down position and started to fall asleep.”

Len was suffering a stroke, but that is when her 12-month-old golden retriever, Luka, stepped in.

“I felt Luka’s head firmly, but not aggressively, pushing down on my chest and up on my chin. This happened many times, I don’t know how long [for] though. So I’d wake up and then fall asleep over and over,” she said, explaining that Luka had never laid on the bed before, preferring cooler floorboards. “But that night, he wouldn’t leave me.”

The constant stimulation from Luka kept Len conscious long enough for her to eventually receive emergency medical care within the critical four-hour window for thrombolysis—a clot-busting treatment that can reverse stroke damage. Doctors diagnosed her with a Basal Ganglia stroke which can be life-threatening if left untreated.

Someone in the U.S. has a stroke every 40 seconds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). About 795,000 occur each year, with 610,000 being first-time strokes and roughly 185,000 recurrent episodes, and in 2022 1 in 6 deaths were as a result of stroke.

Over the following months, Len underwent intensive rehab, relearning how to walk, speak, and perform everyday tasks. Her goals were simple but deeply meaningful: walk the dogs again and hold her baby niece.

Through her dog-centric Instagram account, Len has shared the ordeal with her global community. “I’ve always been transparent about our life, so although the stroke affected me, I’m the human behind the account, so I felt it was right to share what had happened to our little doggo community,” she said.

She now believes Luka sensed her elevated heart rate or noticed signs of distress. “He is my world. I know that his natural instincts and bond with me is something special,” she said.

Len hopes her story raises awareness of the early signs of stroke—such as vision distortion, limb paralysis, or facial drooping—and the importance of seeking help immediately. But she also wants people to appreciate the deeper intuition animals possess.

“Luka truly saved my life. If he didn’t keep me awake that night I would have fallen asleep and possibly died from lack of oxygen to my brain or best case, suffered long term brain and physical damage,” Len said. “I also want people to know the signs of onset of a stroke and the critical window of time to get help.

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