Sharon Stone had a devastating stroke in 2001 that completely altered the trajectory of her life. She references the stroke a lot, I think because A) it was, to quote our dearly missed president, “a big f–king deal,” and B) because she doesn’t want it to happen to you. Sharon just hosted the American Heart Association Red Dress Collection Concert last week, and once again she took the time to describe what she came back from, reiterating that “I can do it, and I made it, and you can too.” One thing she said in particular that should definitely be amplified, is the reminder that if you’re experiencing any symptoms (like numbness, especially on one side of the body, confusion, difficulty speaking or understanding words), get yourself to a hospital ASAP. Do not wait or hesitate!

“I walked out of that hospital, unable to write my own name,” Stone, 66, tells PEOPLE exclusively while hosting the American Heart Association (AHA) Red Dress Collection Concert on Jan. 30. She said following the stroke, she was “unable to remember anything.”

And yet, the Basic Instinct star tells PEOPLE, “I’m right here hosting this ball on two feet in five-inch heels, and I can do it, and I made it, and you can too.”

After a ruptured vertebral artery bled into her brain for nine days, Stone says there weren’t rehabilitation programs that could help.

“When it happened to me, there wasn’t a program that would help me walk again. There wasn’t a program that would stop my suffering,” Stone explains. “There wasn’t any aftercare, and certainly, insurance companies are f—king us right and left, and there wasn’t any insurance to help me. There wasn’t anything. And I’m sure that there’s probably even less now.”

Her situation was made worse by a turbulent personal life, as her husband Phil Bronstein divorced her during her recovery.

But the Casino alum said she wants people to know they can — and should — fight to survive: “I want to say to people, ‘You can do it.’ And I want them to look at me and know, [I had] a husband that was divorcing me, with everybody fighting to take everything, with the bank, who had taken $18 million all my life savings. I had nothing. I had no money. No career.”

“I was destitute with a 1% chance of surviving,” Stone, who calls herself a “proud survivor,” tells PEOPLE.

The Emmy winner urges people to pay attention to stroke symptoms and to advocate for themselves, warning, “If your face starts to fall in any way or has numbness, if your arm feels strange or numb in any way, if your speech is weird, or you say something and it’s not what you were trying to say, or your speech is slurred — you have no time, call an ambulance.”

“Don’t ask your friends. Don’t ask your husband or someone else, ‘What do you think I should do?’ 911, no questions asked,” Stone continues. “I called people. They hung up on me, left me on the floor, didn’t help me. I was alone for three days on the floor.”

“Get an ambulance and get to the hospital. Walk into oncoming traffic and wave your arms,” she says. “Do not hesitate.”

[From People]

Divorcing your spouse who’s in intense recovery from a stroke is so despicable, this one sentence is the only time I’ll waste on him. I applaud Sharon for raising awareness through her own, hard fought experience, because the advice she shares will be news to someone. The Cleveland Clinic gives the same warning to call 911 immediately. If you’re worried someone is having a stroke in your presence, run through the BE FAST acronym, gauging the person’s facility with Balance, Eyes-Face-Arms movement, Speech, and noting the Time symptoms started. (I’m linking to Cleveland Clinic’s stroke page here, which has more details on how to do BE FAST tests.) I would add that for any suspected head injury, not just stroke, you should go to the doctor immediately. I’ll never forget the lovely Natasha Richardson falling while skiing, but politely declining treatment because she said she felt fine. By the time she felt a headache and finally agreed to go to the hospital, it was too late.

So that’s my PSA courtesy of Sharon Stone with a cameo from the gone-too-soon Natasha Richardson. Now pass it on! (Though maybe not the bit about walking into oncoming traffic; that could end badly.)




Photos credit: Backgrid, Roger Wong/INSTARimages, Darla Khazei/INSTARimages