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On Thursday, August 9, my fiancé, Garrett Roe, suffered a stroke at the age of 32. He is alive thanks to the wonderful staff at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, however words can not describe how devastated we are.

Garrett is an A320 First Officer for JetBlue and is based in Long Beach, CA. He was born and raised in the state of Washington. Garrett has always had a passion for airplanes and he started flying at the age of 18. When not in the air he enjoys boating, mechanics, working out, and spending time with friends. His positive energy and generousity are an inspiration to all who know him.

On August 9th, Garrett woke up with complaints of a headache. He got up, made coffee and went in to the bathroom to get ready for work. Seconds later, I glanced over and saw him on his stomach using the door frame to pull himself out of the bathroom. The look on his face was a look I will never forget. I ran over to him and his eyes were open but moving side to side, and he was drooling and clenching his jaw. His body was overly tense and he kept trying to stand but could not. When the medics arrived, they made the decision to airlift him to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

The helicopter landed at Harborview and within 10 minutes of landing Garrett had had a brain scan where they located the clot, and was undergoing surgery where it was successfully removed.

Garrett ended up suffering from an ischemic stroke caused by a carotid artery dissection. This means that he had a tear in the 2 inner layers of his carotid artery...the blood pooled and formed a clot. The clot then traveled to the brain and caused him to have a stroke. Approximately one-third of the left hemisphere of his brain developed damage. This has caused paralysis of the entire right side of his body and the inability to talk and communicate.

This is the start of a very long road for Garrett. He will need immense therapy and rehab to get his body working again coupled with a large amount of support from family and friends to keep his spirits high.

His mother Tanya, and I appreciate all of the love and support we have already received! This is going to take an army but with strength, love and prayer we are confident that we will get Garrett back to the way he was!

I will be updating along the way as we go through this journey together.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Aulbree

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