FALL RIVER — Bob Ferreira suffered two strokes when he was in his 30s — the first while he battled Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and the second when his wife was pregnant with their daughter.
Greg Matulis had a stroke a month after his 30th birthday while working as a carpenter. Not realizing it, he drove himself to another job before seeking medical care.
Diane Perry, a mom of two and assistant treasurer for the city of Fall River, was just shy of 41 when she suffered a stroke in her office at Government Center.
All three survived with minimal damage or lingering physical effects.
For young survivors of stroke, the death of Luke Perry — an iconic TV heartthrob to Generation X’ers and one of the stars of '90s Fox drama "Beverly Hills, 90210" — reignited feelings of anxiety and recurring thoughts of their own mortality.
“You definitely don’t want to hear about people that young dying,” said Ferreira, now 40, of Somerset. “It’s scary. It makes it very real.”
He thought back to that first stroke. He had just lost his mom and finished chemotherapy.
“All of a sudden, I couldn’t speak,” Ferreira said. “The doctor was shocked to see the results.”
It was a mild ischemic stroke of unknown origin. The second stroke, on July 4, 2017, may have been caused by a narrowing carotid artery. Ferreira said he has a history of heart disease and stroke in his family.
“I’m doomed by my bloodline,” he said.
With a baby on the way, Ferreira decided to make some healthy changes in his life, including losing about 40 pounds. He had already quit smoking some years back.
“I wanted her to know me,” Ferreira said. “I’m just trying to be here.”
Diane Perry will be 43 on Saturday, March 16, and is planning to quit smoking on Monday. It’ll be her second time giving up cigarettes, with one attempt lasting a decade.
“I’m doing great,” Perry said.
When she suffered a stroke two years ago — after having headaches, blurred vision and seeing spots — it was a frightening experience that landed her in the hospital for 10 days and made her fear it would happen again. Like Ferreira, she was diagnosed with an ischemic stroke.
An ischemic stroke — like the one that turned fatal for Luke Perry — happens when a blood vessel carrying blood to the brain is blocked by a blood clot, according to the National Stroke Association. It accounts for 87 percent of all strokes. A hemorrhagic stroke, not as common, occurs when a blood vessel in the brain leaks or an aneurysm bursts.
“When I heard about (Luke Perry), I felt a connection to it,” Perry said. “It made me feel how lucky I really am."
Matulis of Portsmouth, R.I., had just turned 30 when he felt a tingling sensation on his face. At first, he “didn’t make much of it.”
But after a little while, the feeling spread over the left side of his body. Still unsure what it was, he drove from Barrington to Portsmouth and met with a customer. After phoning his wife, he drove himself to Newport Hospital and was told he was having a stroke.
“I had no idea it was a stroke,” Matulis said.
Luckily for him, he was still within the three-hour window to benefit from clot-busting medications that “reversed” the effects from the ischemic stroke.
He said the incident “took a toll” on his body and put him on temporary disability from his carpentry work.
“Thinking about the fact that I might not swing a hammer again...” Matlis said. “That was the toughest part of it. I had no idea if I’d be able to recover.”
Matulis, now 36, has since quit working 80 hours a week, smoking and caffeine, and lives a healthier lifestyle. Two years ago, he ran his first Spartan race.
And he’s still a carpenter. He and his wife recently started their own woodworking company, Salty Rhode, in Portsmouth.
“I take my life a lot slower now,” he said.
Matulis said when he heard about Luke Perry, it was a “weird feeling. What I went through was horrible. I know I’m one of the lucky ones.”
Even healthy Generation X’ers were shaken to hear of Perry passing so young.
“I’m still in shock,” said Bianca Carreiro, 39, in a Herald News survey on social media. It “really, put (it) into perspective how much time has passed since ('Beverly Hills, 90210') aired. Those were the best days of my life.”
Dawn Campbell, 46, said “seeing someone whom I admired as a young adult pass away was eye-opening. We all have to face death.”
Heather Souza-Charette, 42, said she was “shocked” and “so sad” at the news. “He was my first crush back in the day.”
Erica Medeiros, 33, had some words of wisdom for the young, and even young at heart.
“It definitely makes you realize, even though you think you are young, life can end at any moment.” Medeiros said. “Never take life for granted.”
Email Deborah Allard at dallard@heraldnews.com.