Bob Mellas, Stroke Survivor

Bob Mellas, stroke survivor Bob Mellas was one of the first to undergo a procedure using the Penumbra System at St. Joseph's Hospital for opening blocked blood vessels that cause stroke. It's a distinction he did not anticipate, but one for which he is grateful.

When working at his cabin in the woods of northern Minnesota, he collapsed, the victim of a stroke. He was stabilized at a hospital in Brainerd, then airlifted to St. Joseph's Hospital in St. Paul where physicians at the HealthEast Neurovascular Institute (now the National Brain Aneurysm Center) thought he would be a good candidate for the Penumbra System.

The system uses a micro-thin catheter guided through blood vessels where it is used to aspirate or suction out the blood clot, thus reopening the blocked vessel. The Penumbra System can be used effectively up to eight hours after a stroke, giving patients more hope than with traditional intravenous drugs, which have to be administered within three hours for maximum effectiveness.

In Mellas' case, the clot was lodged in a large blood vessel at the base of the right side of his brain, leaving his left side paralyzed. As an electrician, who is up and down a ladder many times a day and who needs to use both hands to do his work, "this could be disastrous," he thought.

It wasn't long after treatment, however, that he realized he could move his left leg and left hand. "I was absolutely elated," he said. "I knew then that everything was going to be all right." He credits the staff at St. Joseph's for their calm professionalism. "That was very comforting, especially for someone like me, who really had no idea what was going on," he said.

For Mellas, the Penumbra System did more than open a blood vessel. It opened a new way of living. "I have started working out three times a week and I watch my diet," he said. But more importantly, he has decided to retire and do some traveling. "The stroke was the catalyst I needed to start enjoying life," he said.