My husband suffered a stroke about 1 1/2 years ago. It was a stroke that at the time was identified by syptoms only. 6 months later, an additional MRI confirmed that it was indeed a brain stem stroke. The day he had the stroke, he had first slipped on something and fallen, got up walked a ways to a restroom and after sitting down, he couldn't get back up again as his right side had gone numb. Once someone helped him to get up, he again felt ok and got up walked around, then once the ambulance laid him down to go to the hospital, his right side was paralized again, not to return without extensive therapy. Our question is this, could the fall possibly have caused a blood clot to break free or release, causing the stroke? In all of the tests since then, everything was fine or within acceptable range, except that they discover a small hole in heart, that was prob there since birth. At the time of stroke, he was 51 yrs old, maintaining slightly high blood pressure with Norvasc, and cholesterol was slightly elevated. He now additionally takes Coumadin, and can walk short distances with a cane, but has balance and ear problems. He has been labeled permanently disabled. We are just curious and would like to read any literature that is out there about this possibility. We had two different dr. say that it might be a slight possibility. One said he had seen articles before on it. Can you please let us know if you ever heard of it, or suggest where we might read more about such a thing?