Former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre suffered a mild stroke
Former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre decided to beat reporters to the punch on Monday and announced on Facebook that he is in the Jewish General Hospital after suffering a mild stroke.
“Since journalists were already searching, I wanted to tell you directly. Have a nice day friends,” Coderre wrote in the message posted along with a photo of himself in a hospital bed.
Coderre, a member of Parliament for the riding of Bourassa from 1997 to 2013 and the mayor of Montreal from 2013 to 2017, wrote that he began experiencing symptoms on Wednesday when he felt nauseous and a loss of balance. On Saturday, he began slurring his words and felt numbness on his left side.
“So I decided (Sunday) afternoon to go to the emergency room at the Jewish General Hospital. They took me in immediately. Thank God,” Coderre wrote, adding a mild stroke was diagnosed that will “prolong my stay at the Jewish.”
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante sent out a tweet on Monday wishing Coderre a speedy recovery.
“I am convinced that he will be able to recover quickly from this ordeal thanks to the good care of the team at the Jewish General Hospital,” Plante wrote.
After Coderre posted the message on Facebook, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada sent out a reminder of its current awareness campaign “aimed at helping people recognize the signs of stroke and act FAST.”
FAST lists the most common signs of stroke and what to do about it:
- Face – is it drooping?
- Arms – can you raise both?
- Speech – is it slurred or jumbled?
- Time – to call 9-1-1 right away
“A stroke happens when blood stops flowing to a part of the brain or bleeding occurs in the brain, leading to damage to brain cells,” the foundation wrote.
“Stroke (the third leading cause of death in Canada) is on the rise in Canada due to the aging population and younger people having strokes. More than 89,000 strokes occur in Canada each year.”
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This story was originally published April 17, 2023 at 4:39 PM.
