In this video and accompanying story, Bonnie Slater-Demont shares how the Brigham’s quick response and expert care helped her make a full recovery after a major stroke.

Bonnie Slater-Demont and her husband, Richard, both in their 70s, enjoy an active life filled with travel, family, and friends. The owner of an event planning company, Bonnie has no intention of slowing down.

“We never sit still,” quips Bonnie. “We’re like the Energizer Bunnies.”

But all of this nearly came to a halt one morning in 2018.

The couple had returned home from a family trip to the Adirondacks late the night before, and early the next morning, Richard awoke to a crash. Bonnie was lying unresponsive on the floor—and it was clear something was wrong. Richard immediately realized his wife was having a stroke.

Looking back now, the only thing Bonnie remembers is the ambulance arriving and being asked where she wanted to go. She knew the answer right away.

“We knew we wanted the Brigham,” Bonnie says.

With a stroke, time is of the essence—and in Bonnie’s case, a quick response time is what saved her life. Because it would take too long to get to the Brigham from their home in Hopkinton, MA, Bonnie was rushed to her local hospital. Its emergency medical team was already in touch with the Brigham’s Comprehensive Stroke Center, one of only a few such centers nationwide with the expertise and resources to treat the most complex stroke cases. With the ability to review images and consult in real time with hospitals both locally and across the country, the center’s experts can help stabilize patients, like Bonnie, before they are taken to the Brigham.

And that’s exactly what they did. Under the center’s direction, Bonnie was given clot-busting medicine that stabilized her condition so she could be transferred to the Brigham. Once there, the center’s team jumped into action, performing an arterial thrombectomy to remove the blood clot that was blocking the flow of blood and oxygen to Bonnie’s brain—saving her life.

Richard is still amazed by the quick response; by the time he arrived at the Brigham, the stroke team had already completed the procedure. This sense of awe and gratitude would continue throughout his wife’s hospital stay—which included three days in the intensive care unit—as he witnessed both the skill and compassion of Bonnie’s care team, as well as her remarkable recovery.

“I don’t think we were alone for more than five minutes at any time. Everyone was always checking on her,” Richard says.

“At one point, one of the nurses put her hand on my shoulder and said, ‘You’re in for a long road’,” he continues. “An hour later I was saying, ‘When does this long road start?’ Bonnie never stopped talking!”

Today, Bonnie is fully recovered. She and Richard continue to live an active life—spending lots of time with family, playing with their beloved grandson, traveling, and laughing often. They’re grateful for this full and busy life, for the support of their family—and for the life-saving care Bonnie received from the Brigham.

“Here’s someone who had a major stroke, and who went home and pretty much picked up her life where it left off,” Richard marvels. “And we’re very fortunate, because it could have been a lot worse. We are so lucky to have such quick and expert responses from everybody.”

“I am so lucky, and I am so thankful,” Bonnie agrees. “I mean, I went back to a normal life after having a major stroke. Thank God for Brigham.