Since Máximo Gallego became an actor 12 years ago, his distinctive looks have landed him many interesting opportunities. But playing the part of a stroke patient may have been his most important role to date, because it helped him to save a life.
About two years ago, Máximo was contracted to play a stroke patient during Advanced Stroke Life Support (ASLS) training for EMS professionals at the Hospital Materno-Infantil in Málaga on the Costa del Sol. He describes the experience as “uniquely interactive and beautiful” given that its purpose was to save lives.
“I had never done anything like this.”
Up until that moment, the only thing Máximo knew about stroke was that a friend had died from it. From his position on the stretcher, however, he was able to absorb some useful and interesting information including how to detect a stroke and apply a neurological scale.
A few months later, Máximo, his wife, their two daughters and his 89-year-old father-in-law Enrique Carrión were enjoying lunch on the patio outside their Málaga home. All of a sudden Enrique announced he wasn’t feeling well. He tried to get up but stumbled, and when Máximo tried to assist, Enrique fainted.
When while attending to his father-in-law, Máximo noticed that he could not move his arm, everything he had learnt as an actor in the ASLS course came flooding back. He remembered the stroke assessment checklist and followed it to the letter, checking his father-in-law’s mobility and level of consciousness while he wife called for an ambulance.
When the EMS arrived, Máximo told them that Enrique had suffered a stroke affecting the left side of his body. “Are you a doctor?” the EMS physician wanted to know. Máximo explained that he had acted as a stroke patient in an ASLS training course and that his father-in-law’s symptoms were similar to what he had observed there.
The doctor was more than a little surprised. She confirmed that it was a stroke and said this level of knowledge was something everyone should have.
Without his “training” in stroke, Máximo says he would not have known what to do beyond making his father-in-law comfortable on the ground. He might have called an ambulance, but not as quickly as they did.
The fact that Máximo was able to detect Enrique’s stroke so quickly shortened the treatment pathway. It also ensured he was transferred directly to a stroke-ready hospital instead of the one closest to their home which did not have the capacity to treat acute stroke.
Thanks to Máximo’s swift action, Enrique has recovered without any deficit and continues to enjoy his life. For this happy ending Enrique and the family are deeply grateful, while Máximo is glad to have been useful to a loved one, as well as justifiably proud.
