Chely Wright Reveals She Suffered a Stroke a Year Ago: 'It's Been a Long Year, But I Am Okay'
Country artist Chely Wright shared some frightening health news on social media Friday afternoon, telling fans in a candid Facebook post that she’d had a stroke a year ago.
Wright, who turned 49 just last week, said she was sharing the details in an effort to encourage people to pay attention to any symptoms that might suggest a problem.
“It’s been a long year but I am okay,” Wright assured, noting that she was fortunate, unlike many Americans, to have access to high-quality medical care.
Wright said a year ago that she had been troubled with a lingering migraine, “which isn’t uncommon to me,” so she dropped her twin sons off and headed with wife Lauren Blitzer to the emergency room of Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital to see if doctors could help her to control the pain. She said she wanted relief because she was set to perform shows in the weekend ahead.
Her doctor, concerned by some of her headache symptoms, performed diagnostic tests and confirmed what Wright said that she suspected.
“I sort of knew it. What I had been experiencing with that headache and leading up to that headache was different. I’d even said aloud to myself in the bathroom mirror, ‘Did you have a stroke?’”
The country star used her one-year anniversary to speak up and encourage others who might have similar concerns to take them seriously and get themselves checked out.
“The reason I’m sharing this is so you all might take a moment to refresh your understanding of stroke and the symptoms of stroke,” Wright wrote. “Pay attention to your body and encourage your loved ones to do the same.”
According to womenshealth.gov, symptoms of a stroke can include: numbness or weakness of face, arm, or leg, especially on only one side of the body; confusion or trouble speaking or understanding; trouble seeing in one or both eyes; trouble walking, dizziness or loss of balance or coordination; severe headache with no known causes.
Wright, who has been touring behind her latest EP, Revival, is set to perform Sunday evening on Mountain Stage at the Cultural Center Theater in Charleston, West Virginia.
The Kansas City, Missouri native made an emotional return to the Grand Ole Opry in August, her first appearance on the renowned country stage in more than a decade. It came nine years after Wright came out as gay, penning a memoir about her personal struggles and a secret she’d kept from Nashville and the country music industry her whole career.
Wright wed Blitzer in an interfaith ceremony in Connecticut in August 2011. Their twins George and Everett were born in August 2013.
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