Annual Report 2006 - Boehringer Ingelheim

“I was fortunate to get the right treatment
promptly and efficiently at the local hospital.
My recovery came fast. Only three days after
being admitted, I was able to leave hospital.”
Børge Madsen
“My recovery came fast”
“I was making a cup of coffee in my kitchen on 1 May 2006 when I had a stroke. Luckily,
my wife Lis came home a little later with the grandchildren. She found me paralysed and
unable to speak. Straight away she called the emergency services and an ambulance
quickly transferred me to the local hospital,” says Børge Madsen, a 64-year-old retired
schoolteacher from Copenhagen. After a neurological examination and an immediate brain
scan, he was given a thrombolytic therapy to treat the stroke.
An ischaemic stroke occurs when a blood clot blocks a blood vessel in the brain, interrupting
blood flow to an area of the brain, killing cells in the immediate vicinity from within minutes
to a few hours after the stroke. The time it takes to transport stroke patients to hospital
is decisive to their recovery, or even their survival. But the administration of a thrombolytic
agent is only the first step. Careful further treatment and therapy in a hospital also has a
crucial impact on the health and recovery of the patient.
“I was fortunate to get the right treatment promptly and efficiently at the local hospital,”
Børge says. “My recovery came fast. By around noon, I felt I was regaining the ability
to move my fingers. Later that day, I was able to write. It was fantastic. Only three days
after being admitted, I was able to leave hospital.”
“My relatively good health played a significant role,” Børge says. “I’ve been physically active
all my life and always played football, most recently with the old boys. And I used to work
as a voluntary sports journalist for the local newspaper. Okay, I was a bit overweight and my
blood pressure was a little too high. But otherwise I was fit. And I always have been. The
doctors also tell me that this has helped me.”
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