When every second matters: Grayslake family shares stroke survival story during awareness month

For Grayslake resident Jamie Porteous, what were brushed off as symptoms of seasonal allergies turned out to be something far more serious that would forever change his family.

Since his stroke last year, his wife, Suzy, and their kids, Emma and Nathan, have had to adjust schedules and rally around their father while he continues to attend occupational therapy one to two times a week.

Quick recognition and treatment of Porteous’ symptoms as a stroke helped with his outcome, medical experts say. With May being Stroke Awareness Month, health care systems like Advocate Health are using stories like Porteous’ to call attention to the realities of strokes, how they affect people and how to prevent them.

Porteous suffered his stroke in March 2025. He remembers noticing a faint aura, which he mistook as sunlight glare on the windshield of the school bus he was driving. Coupled with a slight migraine, it was perceived as the effects of allergies.

He drove home to rest before going back out for his next route, but collapsed in the bathroom. After hearing a loud crash, his children found him and called 911.

Fourteen months after his stroke, Porteous continues with rehab, where doctors are attempting to reconnect his neural pathways.

According to his family, Porteous still cannot feel hot or cold textures, is not cleared for driving, and gets easily fatigued if he overextends himself. That exacerbates some of his other symptoms.

“The more stuff I learn, the more fatigued I get,” he said. “All this new information and new data makes my brain work so hard that I get fatigued easier.”

Dr. Anit Behera, a vascular neurologist at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, said Porteous’ stroke was caused by a dissection, or a tear in the blood vessel wall, specifically one of the arteries in his neck. This caused blood clots to shoot up into his brain.

Behera stressed that stroke awareness is a vital tool.

“If (patients) identify it very quickly, all of us — from EMS all the way up to the physicians — can help provide this coordinated care and potentially prevent any lasting deficits from the stroke,” he said.

According to the American Stroke Association, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds. Strokes are largely treatable and patients who receive clot-busting drugs within 4.5 hours of their first symptoms are more likely to recover with little or no disability.

The acronym “B.E. F.A.S.T.” serves as an important mental tool to help identify strokes and decrease the time of any serious problems. The letters stand for balance loss, eye and vision changes, face drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulty and time to call 911.

Porteous’ children are credited with helping save their father’s life. Advocate officials said they were able to quickly identify his symptoms and first responders deployed a “rapid response” treatment during the early, critical window of care.

His daughter Emma believes stroke awareness should be taught in schools more often so people can recognize symptoms before they progress to more serious outcomes.

“Not many people know it’s stroke awareness month,” she said. “I think a more increased importance on it should be placed.”

Emma, who’s currently in college, has helped schedule doctors appointments and driven her father to them. Porteous’ son Nathan, a high school student, has taken on additional chores around the house and also helps shuttle his father to his appointments.

“They unfortunately had to grow up in a few ways, faster than they should have,” Suzy Porteous said. “A lot has been put on their plate that shouldn’t have to be, but there's nowhere else that they would be.”