Actor Jamie Foxx's revelation in his Netflix comedy special that he suffered a brain bleed stroke is helping to spread awareness, a
Nuvance Health neurosurgeon told News 12.
Foxx said what began as an excruciating headache earlier this year was later determined to be a
brain bleed stroke. Dr. Jonathan Lebovitz says that type of stroke can be debilitating.
"Bleeding in the brain that isn't addressed, that continues to get worse or bigger, can cause more brain damage, more weakness, more numbness and in some cases even cause death," says Lebovitz.
Lebovitz did not treat Foxx but performs neurosurgery regularly for brain bleeds. When he watched the special, he was very impressed with Foxx's team and that he showed signs of a "nice recovery."
"The stroke team is sometimes activated by EMS when they're bringing patients into the ER and the emergency department is ready to accept that person right away with the appropriate people and getting the CT scan ready. With a brain bleed stroke, we want to do a procedure urgently, but we want to make sure we have all the info we need, a stable heart rate and stable breathing." he says.
A brain bleed stroke can be treated in a minimally invasive way, says Lebovitz.
"[It's] closed off with little metal coils, so you work through the blood vessels with small catheters and tubes and wires. You can go from the blood vessel in the arm up into the brain to close off that blood vessel so it can no longer bleed anymore. The goal is to treat it before it may bleed again." he says.