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<p>A celebrity died on Monday, and yes, you should care.</p><p>We&#8217;ve run editorials in this space in recent months waxing poetic on how the American people spend too much time idolizing and obsessing over athletes, actors and other celebrities they&#8217;ve never met.</p><p>There is some truth in that, but <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/735335/publicist-luke-perry-has-died-at-52-after-suffering-stroke" target="_blank">the death of actor Luke Perry deserves our </a><a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/735335/publicist-luke-perry-has-died-at-52-after-suffering-stroke" target="_blank">attention</a>.</p><p>The superficial &#8212; but understandable &#8212; reason for so much press has been that Perry was a huge heartthrob for a generation to whom his death represents not just a lost part of their youth, but also a reminder of our mortality.</p><p>If you didn&#8217;t watch &#8220;Beverly Hills, 90210&#8221; or &#8220;Riverdale&#8221; or &#8220;Oz,&#8221; Perry&#8217;s name might not mean anything to you. More importantly, however, Perry was only 52 when he died after suffering a massive stroke last week.</p><p>So the headlines are not just about the death of a famous person, but a famous person who died relatively young from a condition that kills about 140,000 Americans each year, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_stroke.htm" target="_blank">according to the U.S. Centers for Disease </a><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fs_stroke.htm" target="_blank">Control</a>, making it the nation&#8217;s fifth leading cause of death.</p><p>A stroke occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot (ischemic stroke) or ruptures (hemorrhagic stroke), <a href="https://www.strokeassociation.org/en/about-stroke" target="_blank">the American Stroke Association (ASA) points </a><a href="https://www.strokeassociation.org/en/about-stroke" target="_blank">out</a>. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood (and oxygen) it needs, so it and brain cells die.</p><p>A third type, TIA (transient ischemic attack), or &#8220;mini stroke,&#8221; is caused by a temporary clot.</p><p>As Perry&#8217;s untimely death also reminds us, no one is &#8220;too young&#8221; to have a stroke.</p><p>ASA says there was a 44 percent increase in the number of young Americans hospitalized due to strokes over the past decade. Many young stroke survivors are between the ages of 18-65 years old, ASA says, and 15 percent of ischemic strokes occur in young adults and adolescents.</p><p>To take a longer view, <a href="http://ucla.multimedia-newsroom.com/index.php/2016/01/11/survey-finds-most-young-people-experiencing-the-signs-of-a-stroke-would-put-off-going-to-the-e-r/" target="_blank">California&#8217;s UCLA Health points out</a> that the number of young adults between 18-45 discharged from U.S. hospitals after suffering a stroke has jumped as much as 53 percent since the mid 1990s, when &#8220;90210&#8221; was in its heyday.</p><p>More troubling, members of the very generation now mourning Perry&#8217;s death are among those most likely to ignore the signs of a stroke, research cited by UCLA Health found.</p><p>&#8220;Researchers asked more than a thousand people nationwide what they would be likely to do within the first three hours of experiencing weakness, numbness, difficulty speaking or difficulty seeing, all common symptoms of a stroke,&#8221; the health network pointed out. &#8220;Among those under age 45, only about one out of three said they would be very likely to go to the hospital. A staggering 73 percent said they would likely wait to see if their symptoms improved.&#8221;</p><p>And while death is the most feared outcome, strokes are a leading cause of serious long-term disability for those who survive.</p><p>A meme circulating on social media since Perry&#8217;s death states, &#8220;if your wife or girlfriend was a teenager in the &#8217;90s check on her.&#8221;</p><p>The intended meaning, of course, is to be mindful of the grief many fans are feeling.</p><p>The larger meaning should be a reminder that we need to take better care of ourselves and our loved ones &#8212; and that includes awareness of stroke symptoms as well as some of the risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, obesity, and diabetes.</p><p>We send our condolences to Perry&#8217;s family and those who mourn him for the joy he brought into our homes each week through his acting.</p><p>We hope all who read this editorial will take care of themselves and their loved ones, and understand how vital it is to react fast when signs of a stroke appear.</p><p><em> &#8212; Times Leader</em></p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">In this June 29, 2001 file photo, actor Luke Perry poses during an interview in New York. The &#8216;Riverdale&#8217; and &#8216;Beverly Hills, 90210&#8217; star died Monday. He was 52. Publicist Arnold Robinson said that Perry died after suffering a massive stroke. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_122374079-400278d9aff140aebf532321a8af7b42-4.jpg</photo0><caption0>In this June 29, 2001 file photo, actor Luke Perry poses during an interview in New York. The &#8216;Riverdale&#8217; and &#8216;Beverly Hills, 90210&#8217; star died Monday. He was 52. Publicist Arnold Robinson said that Perry died after suffering a massive stroke. </caption0><photoCredit0>Leslie Hassler | AP file photo </photoCredit0></div></div>

Our View: Luke Perry’s death reminds us strokes can strike at any age