2026 Go Red for Women Class of Survivors: Alex Wilson-Garza

Alex Wilson-Garza was a healthy 24-year-old emergency room nurse when she started having stroke symptoms. Her husband rushed her to the same hospital where she works. After months of recovery, Alex says her experience increased her empathy and helps her connect with patients on a deeper level.

As a 24-year-old emergency room nurse, Alex Wilson-Garza was skilled at taking care of others. But her life changed in 2023 when she suddenly became the one who needed help.

She was enjoying a rare day off at home with her police officer husband, Caleb. Then she started feeling dizzy, slurring her words and acting erratic.

“I remember the world spinning around me,” she said. “My husband said I started not making sense. He said I tried to get up to walk and was having a lot of difficulty. I tried to pick something up and flung it across the room with my left hand.”

Caleb also told Alex that it looked like her drooping face was “melting.” He knew that her behavior and symptoms were common stroke signs.

“If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have thought I was having a stroke,” she said. “I probably would have gone to sleep and ignored what was going on with me. His background of being trained to recognize emergencies saved my life.”

He was persistent about taking her to the hospital where she worked, which was just two minutes away. At first, Alex resisted because she didn’t want to see her co-workers when she was in such a vulnerable state.

“I was, like, please don’t take me to work,” she said. “I was really scared because as nurses we spend our entire job taking care of other people. But it’s really hard for nurses to step back and take care of themselves. We think we’re invincible. I was in denial that there was something wrong with me. Even though I had this intuition that there was something wrong, I just didn't want to admit it.”

But once in the emergency room, her fears were alleviated. One of Alex’s favorite doctors extended his shift to help care for her. Her co-workers were attentive and didn’t dismiss her symptoms, even though she was young and had no other health issues.

“I got brought back to a room that I’ve been in a million times where I’ve taken care of a million people,” she said.

Tests showed she was having a stroke. She was given tPA, a clot-dissolving drug, and had a thrombectomy, a procedure to remove a blood clot. She spent two days in the ICU and was moved to a cardiac neuro floor. She was discharged three days later.

Alex returned to work at the hospital three weeks after her stroke. She was allowed to sit for part of her shift and take other accommodations if she felt dizzy or needed to rest.

Perhaps the bigger change had little to do with her physical endurance.

“I’ve told everyone that there was a nurse Alex before my stroke, and there’s a completely different nurse Alex after my stroke,” she said. “It has changed how I approach my job in multiple aspects. After I came back to work, I saw people differently because I can now put myself in their shoes and know what they’re feeling. Because before that, I was an ER nurse, but I had never been an ER patient. It’s very vulnerable as an emergency room patient.”

Returning to the activities she did before the stroke was her next goal.

“When I started going back to my Brazilian jiu-jitsu classes, it helped me get my strength and balance back,” she said. “My husband would go to classes with me and be very patient. My son, Aiden, would come and do little workouts with me. I was surrounded by a lot of support and love, and I would get gentle pushes to get back to it.”

Now 28, Alex said she also noticed other positive outcomes of her stroke.

“I actually changed a little bit of the culture of my team in the ER,” she said. “Doctors and nurses have told me that I make them think twice about a young person who comes in the ER having stroke-related symptoms or heart-attack-related symptoms. I’m a reminder to everyone else around me that anything could happen.”

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