At 50, he was having a stroke. His wife’s quick action helped limit his brain damage.

Silivenusi “Nusi” Tukuafu felt too young to have a stroke. But when he suddenly couldn’t move his left arm, his wife, Arnetia, knew he needed to get help fast.

While sitting with her children in the lobby of the hospital emergency room, Arnetia Tukuafu was waiting to hear how her husband was doing after suffering a stroke. Then she heard “Code Blue” over the public address system.

Her husband, Silivenusi “Nusi” Tukuafu, was undergoing a procedure to remove a clot, called a thrombectomy, that had caused a stroke by blocking a blood vessel supplying blood to his brain. As a fan of the TV medical show “Grey’s Anatomy,” Arnetia knew “Code Blue” meant a patient emergency.

“I knew it was him,” she said.

Dr. Danielle Sorte soon came out and told her Nusi’s clot removal was a success. She also shared that they uncovered additional cardiac issues, which led to his heart stopping during the procedure.

She added that he would need open-heart surgery for a triple-heart bypass after his body recovered from the cardiac arrest. He would then spend another month in inpatient rehabilitation recovering from both the stroke and heart surgery and learning how to walk, dress himself with one arm and speak more clearly.

Still, Nusi had been relatively fortunate. Arnetia had called 911 immediately after noticing her husband couldn’t move his left side after waking up on Jan. 17, 2024. Upon arrival at HCA Healthcare’s St. Mark’s Hospital, a comprehensive stroke center near their home in Salt Lake City, Utah, doctors quickly confirmed the stroke with a CAT scan.

Nusi received an intravenous clot-busting drug 18 minutes after arriving at the ER, putting his “door-to-needle” time well within the 60-minute time frame recommended by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. The time goal is based on studies showing every minute counts to save lives and protect long-term brain function.

“The biggest factor [working in Nusi’s favor], as we heard in the hospital, was his age,” Arnetia said. “He’s young. The second thing was that we were able to catch it in time. Time was of the essence.”

Now, the couple is raising awareness about the critical importance of recognizing signs of a sudden stroke and seeking immediate medical care.

They’re also encouraging family and friends in the Polynesian community to get annual physicals and pay closer attention to their diets, exercise and sleep.

Nusi and Arnetia recall how, in the years before the stroke, Nusi had gained weight from eating large portions of rice, pork and his favorite — French fries with “fry sauce,” a Utah staple made of mayonnaise and ketchup. Medication had helped control his high cholesterol and high blood pressure, but he hadn’t stayed in close touch with his doctor.

By 2022, after becoming less active during the covid-19 pandemic, he’d started getting chest pains that he’d chalked up to heartburn. While he often ran during practices with the varsity high school rugby team he helped coach, he began feeling breathless walking longer distances. But he figured it was just his body adjusting to the higher altitude of Salt Lake City, where they’d recently moved from Hawaii.

“I wasn’t taking care of my body,” Nusi said. Even so, he never considered himself at risk of having a stroke, especially at 50. “This can’t be happening to me,” he’d thought. “I’m too healthy to have a stroke. I’m too young.”

That January day, the 911 dispatcher asked Arnetia a series of questions

Could he say his name? He could, but his mouth barely moved.

Was his face drooping? She wasn’t sure; Nusi had high cheekbones.

Could he lift both arms? In three attempts, he could only lift his right arm.

Could he balance? She couldn’t tell; he was lying down.

Within about 10 minutes, Arnetia said, EMTs were taking Nusi to HCA Healthcare’s St. Mark’s Hospital. When Arnetia and their children arrived at the ER, Nusi was already getting the cat scan that revealed the blood clot below his right ear that had caused the stroke. Minutes after he returned from the scan, he was whisked away for thrombectomy.

One and a half years later, Nusi is still recovering. He works hard every day, physically and mentally, toward recovery. Some days he still has to eat, dress himself and do everything else with only his right arm. Walking and standing for long remain challenging. He hopes to recover more motion on his left side, and he continues occupational and speech therapy.

When asked, he feels well mentally, but Arnetia notices how easily Nusi gets “cognitive fatigue” and sometimes orders the same product online multiple times, forgetting that he’s already done so.

Nusi attributes where he is with his recovery to his support system, especially Arnetia, their children, and other family and friends. He also adopted healthier eating habits, gets more sleep and takes naps to restore his energy and reduce stress. He worries his gait leaves him at risk of falling.

Arnetia has had to get used to being a full-time caregiver while also supporting their family by working from home. But their marriage has emerged stronger, she said, and they now appreciate the need to make each other their top priority.

They also have something new to look forward to — their first grandchild is expected this fall.

Nusi has a new goal: “I just want to be able to hold the baby.”