photography: courtesy John McCain 2008;

Cindy McCain

The Saturday Evening Post magazine focuses on health, including cardiovascular disease, and we would like to learn more about your experience with stroke. Would you share what you’ve gone through, and what you’ve learned?

I really thought I was too young to have a stroke. It consumes your entire life. It changes you forever. What I learned from it was: number one, I took advantage of myself by not eating correctly or listening to my doctor. My doctor told me that I had high blood pressure and prescribed medicine. I didn’t take it, because I thought I knew more. I thought, “Well, I could exercise and eat better and all that and nothing would happen.” As you know, I have a full life. The stroke was now the core of my life. I changed everything that I do, including getting enough rest. To get over the stroke, I went to California, because I could hardly walk, one arm wouldn’t move, and my mouth drooped. Not many people have that advantage, but I rented a condominium in Coronado, California. For an entire summer, all I did was concentrate on myself. My family couldn’t understand “mom’s leaving.” But I knew if I didn’t do that, I could never take care of my family.

How did you know you were having a stroke?

I didn’t. That’s the problem. I was sitting at lunch with friends, like we are right now. I was talking with them just like this. Then literally and all of a sudden, I was talking but it was coming out garbled. I could hear that it was garbled in my head. I knew something was wrong. I thought someone is going to think I’m drunk, and it’s 11:00 in the morning. So, I thought I would just excuse myself and go home. Because I came in from overseas the night before, I thought maybe it was jet lag. And, of course, when I stood up I couldn’t walk; I just collapsed. Fortunately, my friends who were with me realized quickly what was going on, picked me up, put me in a car, and immediately drove me to the emergency room within the three-hour window that it takes to get the drugs to stop and reverse some of the effects of the stroke.

There are two types of strokes—ischemic (clot) and hemorrhagic (bleed). You had the bleed form, correct?

Yes, full bleed. It requires different kinds of medicine, and you have to get treatment more quickly. They’re both bad, but the bleed will kill you—a clot will also, but the bleed will kill you faster. For me, it was a long period of disorientation. The first thing that went through my head was, because I was in the hospital and no one was there—my husband and entire family were not there—the only thing I could think of was, “I wish I had one more chance to tell them I loved them.”
When you’re in ICU, I wondered, “How did I get here? I’m not supposed to be here.” The comes the realization that you’ve really got to get your act together, pull your life together, and change everything you do. That’s what I did. After I got out of the hospital, I remember walking into therapy with friends opening the doors for me and being terribly distressed that there were people there who were in far worse shape than I was in wheelchairs and unable to move or speak. I thought, “I am NOT going to be that. I’m going to get over this.”

You’re lucky you had friends present who knew what to do. What did they know, and what should people be aware of?

Be aware of anything unusual—any changes: a change of vision, even. If there’s anything “off” from where you are normally, seek help. There was no pain involved. I watched too much television and thought that when you had a stroke, you had pain. There was no pain; there was nothing. It just happened. I tell people to be aware of their bodies. Know your body the best. If there’s any change at all, be aware of it, especially at our age. I met a girl along the road who happened to be from Arizona. She was 21 years old, and she a stroke. Because everyone believed she was too young, they left her on the gurney: they thought she was on drugs—“Oh it’s another one of those.” She never received medical attention.

Strokes can happen at any age. I’m not sure what that’s about right now—what our environment is telling us—but it’s scary. I think women, in general, need to be more responsible, because I had put everybody in front of me.

You were aware of blood pressure problems in the past. Does it run in your family?

In my case, it’s hereditary. The medicine would have stopped it. But you convince yourself that you’re superwoman—at least, I had.

You’re in good shape, too. Do you work out a lot or genetically lucky?

No, I work out. Now I work out.

What’s your daily routine?

It’s hard when on the [campaign] trail, but at home I do a lot of hiking, walking, and lifting light weights. I try to do cardio, but since my knee replacement, it’s a little hard for me to do heavy running any more. But eight months after my stroke, I was in a marathon. Mind you, I walked, and my friends were with me. When we walked across the finish line, we did it together.

In The Saturday Evening Post and our children’s magazines (Jack & Jill Family of Magazine cbhi.org), we also focus on health and fitness. Currently, we are running our own “healthy” election—called the Fruit & Veggie Election. Children from all over the nation have been visiting our website to vote for their favorite fruit and vegetable.

Oh, wonderful!

We have some candidates you may be familiar with: Celery Clinton, Broccoli Obama and, of course, John McCantalope. Which of our candidates would you vote for?

I think McCantelope would be perfect! My favorite fruit is oranges, and my favorite vegetable would probably be broccoli. I actually taught all four of my kids to eat broccoli.

As a non-profit organization, another focus of our magazines is raising funds for art education in schools. You were an educator. Would you share with our readers one of your favorite children’s stories growing up or one that you read with your children?

My favorite book—my children’s as well—is Charlotte’s Web, because it was such a nice story. When they were little, I read to them. I did my masters in movement therapy. With regard to the art education issue, I believe all arts should be continued and increased in schools. I don’t know how we do that. It’s up to my husband to figure how to do that. But we’re missing a great deal, because art expands children’s minds.