My father in law had a stroke 2 months ago at age 56. He passed out in the bathroom about 3 hours before anyone else in the house was up. He is currently paralysed on his left side, but it is SLOWLY coming back. He is able to take a few "steps" at a time with a walker. The docs are confident he will fully regain use of his leg, but are not sure about the arm.

If they has caught it when it happened it would (could) have been an entirely different story.

Strangely, he can no longer laugh, but everything else mental is fine.