SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Teaching honors English at Sevierville High School is just one of Michael Hodges's passions.

But in December of 2006, a stroke suddenly sent Michael out of the classroom and into the ER.

Michael says, "The blockage in the carotid would eventually close completely."

In hopes of preventing another, possibly life-threatening stroke, Michael turned to Dr. Malcolm Foster, a cardiologist with East Tennessee Heart Consultants.

Dr. Foster says, "If you had blockage in the carotid artery particularly symptoms of a mini stroke, you had surgery which involved put to sleep, in the operating room, and incision and the plaque being removed."

Surgery's one option...

But instead, Dr. Foster and Michael went with option two- stinting.

Dr. Foster says, "It's a very different treatment for the same problem. So instead of removing the plaque, we go inside the blockage and we open up and leave behind a pipe, so there's new pipe that relines the artery. So we go into the leg artery and place a catheter in blood vessel, and this is performed with the person awake."

Michael says, "One of the assistants talked me through the whole process, so there were no surprises, it's fairly painless and a relief when it was over."

Dr. Foster says, "The tight blockage in the neck was limiting blood flow to the brain after we open that up with a stent, then you have normal blood flow to the brain."

As Michael's blood flow instantly went back to normal, so too did his life- back into the classroom with yearly carotid ultrasounds.

Michael says, "I think the Lord took care of me, I had the right doctor, its wonderful having a wife as a nurse recognizing the signs, and I feel grateful and blessed."

So are you at risk for stroke?

According to cardiologists, if you're over 80 years old, have had previous surgery, radiation to the neck or if you have serious heart or lung disease you're most at risk.

So how do you reduce that risk? Dr. Foster says eating right, exercising and keeping your weight down will help.

If you're a smoker, now is the time to quit.

For more information and ways to get help, call 865-470-2273
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