Stroke is the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer, and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death for people under the age of 44. These events are common, yet devastating – the lives that aren’t claimed by them are changed forever.

The statistics on this page are certainly disheartening. As an organization, our goal is to bring hope, faith and joy to survivors and their families - and to support a different future of higher survival rates, improved prevention and an increease in positive outcomes. We are encouraged by the possibilities that the future brings.

About Stroke:

• Stroke is the third leading cause of death, behind heart disease and cancer. Each year, about 700,000 people suffer a stroke. About 500,000 of these are first attacks, and 200,000 are recurrent attacks.
• Stroke killed 275,000 people in 2002 and accounted for about 1 of almost 15 deaths in the United States.
• At all ages, 40,000 more women than men have a stroke.
• 28% of people who suffer a stroke in a given year are under age 65.
• On average, someone in the United States suffers a stroke every 45 seconds; every 3.1 minutes someone dies of a stroke.
• About 4.7 million stroke survivors (2.3 million men, 2.4 million women) are alive today.
• Stroke is the leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States. 8% of men and 11% of women will have a stroke within six (6) years after a heart attack.
• 14% of people who have a stroke or TIA will have another within a year.
• 22% of men and 25% of women who have an initial stroke die within a year.

About Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

On an annual basis in the United States:

• 1.5 million people will sustain a TBI annually
• 50,000 people will die annually as a result of TBI
• 80,000 people annually experience the onset of long term disabilities following TBI
• There are currently 5.3 million Americans living with a disability as a result of TBI