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The phone call
Caitlin worked on the reservation line of a New York restaurant group and had just collected the woman's phone number when the woman began speaking haltingly. Sensing something was very different, she asked the woman to stay calm and said she would call 911. The woman agreed, and Caitlin got her address. Paramedics arrived, and without them the woman most likely would have died. She was left barely able to speak.
Recovery and thanks
She went through all kinds of training and learned to speak again, and she stayed in touch with Caitlin to thank her. She had aphasia, and her recovery inspired Caitlin to go to school to learn to provide therapy for people with aphasia. When the woman died recently, she left money for Caitlin to pay for that school.
The letter
All of this happened during the pandemic, and Caitlin had left the company by then. The founder learned the second half only when she wrote to tell him, and the letter appears in his book What Could Possibly Go Right? A reservation taker's job is to book four people at 8:00 on Friday night faithfully, and a great one learns enough about the guest that notes reach the maitre d'. Caitlin's job did not include anything like this call. He started crying when he read her letter aloud for the audiobook.
Why does a stroke take away speech?
In most people, language is handled mainly by regions on the left side of the brain. A hemorrhagic stroke happens when a blood vessel in the brain bursts, and the bleeding damages the tissue around it. Damage in a language region can leave a person understanding speech but unable to produce it, a pattern first described in 1861 by the French physician Paul Broca. The area he identified is still called Broca's area.
How does therapy help people with aphasia?
Speech-language pathologists treat aphasia with repeated practice at naming objects, forming sentences, and understanding speech. The work draws on neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to reorganize so that undamaged regions take on some of the lost work. Recovery can continue for months or years after a stroke. Aphasia affects language but not intelligence.
Why is speech trouble a recognized stroke sign?
Because language depends on specific brain regions, a stroke in one of them can slur or break up speech within minutes. The American Stroke Association's FAST acronym lists sudden speech difficulty alongside face drooping and arm weakness. The T stands for time, since emergency treatment works within a limited window after symptoms begin.
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