Part 3 — By Chris Martin
It was around two weeks after my Jiu-Jitsu Times article and podcast came out that I received an interesting message. My article was about the day I had a stroke from a choke hold in jiu jitsu practice, and I hoped my story could bring awareness to the risk, so it wouldn’t happen to any other practitioners.
Since my accident, I have received a number of emails and direct messages from practitioners all over the world telling similar stories like Ray’s story in part 1 of this series which you can check out by {clicking here}.
One message came to me via Facebook only days after my Jiu-Jitsu Times article was released.
His name is Jay Suarez, and he wanted to share his story with me, and talk about my own recovery process. His story, similarly to mine, is unique and needs to be heard by other practitioners.
Jay Suarez has been rolling jiu-jitsu for a few years, and has certainly made (makes) a lifestyle of it. As a matter of fact, (the day he suffered a stroke), he was on a plane home to Atlanta from a business trip, not feeling well with fatigue but decided to go to BJJ practice anyways (because he loves training). Although he was physically drained, he was still determined to get on the mat that night. After the plane landed, he went straight to his academy for rolling jiu-jitsu. It was there that he was put into a choke hold by his opponent (Cleaver Choke), who cranked on his neck in a wrestler-type fashion, exposing his carotids. Of course, he fought his way out of it but the damage had already begun.
After the session ended, some of his teammates noticed that his demeanor had changed. Some of his speech didn’t make sense, but he ignored the signs and symptoms, chalking it up to jet lag. Over the next few days, he continued his daily life with his family, but his symptoms grew worse. You should check out the rest of his story in our interview.:
First part of the interview:
Second part of the interview:
As Jay mentions in his story it is very important for all BJJ practitioner to recognize the signs of a stroke and we both hope that more academies will educate their students of the signs of stroke. We all want to continue training long into our lives, however we must train safe and smart, awareness is crucial.
Check out other references and similar stories:
Part 6 of this series — https://medium.com/@bizjitsu/a-jiu-jitsu-choke-that-caused-a-stroke-82f8c8136d
Part 5 of this series — https://medium.com/@bizjitsu/a-stroke-from-carotid-artery-dissection-from-jiu-jitsu-32db9bcf1b47
Part 4 of this series — https://medium.com/@bizjitsu/bjj-after-stroke-aarons-story-da3dff7fe0b8
Part 2 of this series — https://medium.com/@bizjitsu/my-brazilian-jiu-jitsu-stroke-part-ii-what-you-need-to-know-about-dangerous-practices-fae9fa136f5b
Part 1 of this series — https://medium.com/@bizjitsu/my-stroke-my-story-ff01f4924d68
