Stroke survivor uses his experience to caution others

An indie stroke survivor is helping out in a big way in raising awareness for heart health. WRTV's Jessica Grundling is live in the studio this morning with his story. Good morning, Jessica. Good morning, Lauren. Each year, the American Heart Association holds a seven-week fundraising competition called Leaders of Impact. It's to educate communities across the country on symptoms and warning signs of heart disease while also raising money for research. This year, Nick Schellinger is Central Indiana's Leader of Impact winner after raising the most money by an Indiana candidate, and he's sharing the importance of advocating for your health. I can honestly say in 42 years, it was the scariest time of my life. That was a year ago for Nick Schellinger. I was driving home to pick up my twins from daycare, and I noticed that my right foot had lost feeling. The father, too, says knowing something wasn't right, he took himself to the hospital. By the time I got there, from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet on my right side, I couldn't feel. Tongue was numb and went in the emergency room and told him I was having a stroke. Schellinger spent a week in the hospital and has no lasting side effects. Something he says is thanks to working in the construction business. Part of training includes knowing the signs and symptoms of heart attacks and strokes. My mind went exactly to what this was, and I was able to seek the help because the time from when it happens to when you get treatment is just, it's the utmost critical thing. Now this year, Schellinger was named as a nominee for the American Heart Association's Leaders of Impact campaign, shining a spotlight on heart health. It is a seven-week blind fundraising competition. I hadn't told many people about my stroke, and so I said this is going to be my platform. This is going to be the time that I take something that was really bad that happened to me and turn it into something really good. That something good turned into raising $250,000, the most ever by an Indiana candidate. And that was pretty special, something I'm still trying to wrap my head around. It really helps us just continue to share our mission far and wide. And Schellinger's advice for everyone out there is to see a doctor regularly. And had I done that, someone along that way would have told me my blood pressure was getting out of control. And my body had just built up a tolerance to that feeling over a long period of time. So there was no moments of panic, but my story could have completely been avoided. Now, heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States. This year, 60 cities participated in the campaign and raised more than $4 million.