By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
An 11-year veteran of the FBI, Special Agent Diane Wehner believed she was in good physical shape.
After all, she worked out daily at the gym at the FBI’s Charlotte Field Office and passed her required annual fit tests.
But after completing the fit test in September 2015, the 36-year-old said she “didn’t feel very well. My neck hurt, my back hurt,” she told the Charlotte Observer.
Just when she thought she was beginning to feel better, she began to slur her speech.
“When we first met Diane, she was in the middle of having a stroke and with strokes, time is very important,” said Dr. Joe Bernard, an Endovascular Neuro Surgeon at Carolinas Medical Center where Wehner was eventually airlifted.
Likely from doing sit-ups during the fit test, Wehner dissected both parties in her neck.
The doctor wasted no time and operated to remove the clot before it was too late.
“Sometimes we have hours to be able to do this. Sometimes we just have minutes,” Dr. Bernad said.
After her near brush with death, Wehner returned to the FBI, focusing on counterintelligence, white-collar crime and terrorism.
Dr. Bernard said Wehner is alive today because she didn’t hesitate to go to the hospital.
“Diane’s unusual because most strokes happen in older patients, but part of the awareness that needs to be broadcast is strokes can happen to anybody,” Dr. Bernard said.
