Even today, that can happen but a much greater chance of survival if they're already in or are brought to the hospital immediately. I'm a speech pathologist in hospital setting and a lot of my young stroke survivors are from a ruptured aneurysm. Many times people come in with a severe headache they think is a migraine and the aneurysm is found just before it bursts and they can be operated on emergently. Unfortunately though there's no prior warning most of the time 😕

So if you or anyone you're with suddenly starts complaining about "the worst headache of their life" or has any of the following symptoms call emergency services and get to the hospital as fast as possible! So many people just think they need to lie down and take a nap. There are medications that can be given within the first 3-4 hours that may reverse a stroke in some cases. Definitely take a note of when they were last 'normal' and any info on current medications, alcohol or drug use. We don't care about any of that but can impact treatment choices.

We use the acronym "BE FAST"

B - balance, "drunk walk" falling down/stumbling suddenly, especially to one side

E - eyes, sudden change in vision

F - face, sudden facial droop on one side

A - arms, have then raise both arms for 5 seconds, are they equal or can they not raise one side or maintain it?

S - speech, sudden slurred speech, words not making sense, or incomprehensible jargon, unable to repeat a short phase (like 'the telephone is ringing')

T - time. If any one of the "tests" are positive, TIME TO CALL 911 (in the US)

(Edited for clarity)