Stroke is a life-threatening condition that occurs when there is an issue with blood flow to parts of your brain.

It most commonly happens when blood vessels are blocked or because of bleeding in your brain. This causes the affected brain cells to become oxygen-starved and to stop working properly.Now if your brain cells go too long without oxygen, they will die. If enough brain cells in an area die, the damage becomes permanent, and you may lose the abilities that area once controlled.

However, restoring blood flow may prevent that kind of damage or at least limit how severe it is. That is why time is critical in treating a stroke.

This also means that you must be aware of the warning signs of a stroke, which may include a sudden loss of balance, sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes, a droop on one or both sides of the face, muscle weakness, difficulty speaking, confusion among others.