After a fun night out with her girlfriends late last year, Bianca Cooper arrived home with a “killer” headache.

That wasn’t all that unusual, but she soon started to lose feeling on her left side and was unable to walk. She knew something wasn’t right. She called her girlfriend.

“I think I’m having a stroke,” she told her.

Cooper was 29 and as far as she knew as healthy and strong as an axletree.

Her experience, however, is a powerful reminder that strokes are increasingly occurring in young people. In fact, Georgia Hospital Association figures show that roughly the same number of people under 65 as over 65 experienced strokes each year.

Doctors at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta say the trend, while in some respects is surprising, is visible among the patients they treat. The number of young stroke patients aged 15-40 admitted to the Shepherd Center has tripled in the past eight years.

Why? Click here: www.myajc.com/news/lifestyles/health/strokes-increasing-among-adolescents-young-adults/ngNXz/

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Managing Partner at Atlantica Properties, Darion Dunn (center) talks with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens during a tour following the ribbon cutting of Waterworks Village as part of the third phase of the city’s Rapid Housing Initiative on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025.
(Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez