North Texas man thankful to be alive after suffering stroke during flight

DALLAS - A North Texas man is giving thanks this holiday season after suffering a stroke during a flight home from vacation.

Richard Flores doesn't remember much about the medical emergency, but he's grateful to his family, flight crew, and medical staff who worked together to save his life.

Flores was wrapping up a fun family vacation on the West Coast, when he boarded a plane back home to Dallas.

Suddenly, he lost his vision, and next thing he remembers is waking up in an ambulance on the way to a Phoenix hospital.

"I started to lose my vision. We took off and I had mentioned it to my wife," Flores recalled.

Luckily, Flores' son-in-law, who is an ER doctor, was seated behind him and took quick action by notifying the flight crew that Flores was having a stroke.

The flight was diverted back to Phoenix.

"It absolutely was terrifying. So, from the beginning of his symptoms, until we actually got turned around and landed back in Phoenix, it was about an hour," Flores’ wife, Rose, recalled.

The plane was met on the tarmac by the Barrow Neurological Institute’s mobile stroke unit.

It's staffed with two specialized nurses.

"I was able to see that he was not moving the right side," Dr. Daniel Gonzalez said.

Dr. Gonzalez is the vascular neurologist who was on call.

He was able to diagnose Flores virtually with the help of the unit's CT machine.

"We made the call to give him the medication Tenecteplase, which is a clot-busting medication. And in the most dramatic fashion of that, next minute or two, Flores woke up and he started talking," Gonzalez recalled.

Flores was taken to the hospital for further evaluation.

There, Dr. Gonzalez discovered Flores had a small hole in his heart which led to the stroke.

Flores underwent surgery so Dr. Gonzalez could close the hole.

Six days later, Flores and his wife were headed back home to Dallas. He's back to work as a roofing contractor and has no lingering effects from the stroke.

And with Christmas just days, Flores feels blessed to be here to be able to spend it with his family.

"I'm real thankful to be able to see them and hug them and yes, I mean, and talk to them," he said.

"It's a very special feeling when you're able to make a change in someone's life from one second to the next, and give them back a quality of life that them and their family deserve," Dr. Gonzalez said. "It's a Christmas miracle for sure."

Flores said his father also suffered a stroke during a flight years ago.

Back then, mobile stroke units and these technological advances didn't exist, so his dad sadly suffered serious complications.

Flores and his wife said it’s important to recognize the signs and symptoms of a stroke and act fast.