In the late 1990s, Natalie Poli, a former captain of the Chicago Luvabulls dance team, would often gasp for air after performing elaborate routines during Chicago Bulls games. Poli had been dancing since she was 3 years old, and by eighth grade, she had set her sights on dancing for the Bulls. She joined both her high school and college dance teams, but the feeling of breathlessness was not new. During practices with the University of Iowa dance team, she would often become so out of breath that she cried, thinking it was due to being out of shape, especially when her chest hurt.
One day, at age 21, after dancing for the Bulls crowd, she found herself more out of breath than usual. A fellow dancer, who had asthma, offered her an inhaler, but it didn’t help much. Though her breathing eventually settled, this episode pushed her to see a doctor. She was told she might have mild, exercise-induced asthma, and it wasn’t anything to worry about. Poli returned to dancing and her day job at a law firm.
After her second season with the Luvabulls, she left to pursue a career in recruiting, got married, and had a son named Cole. Later, she went back to school to earn a master’s degree and a teaching license before welcoming her second son, Dylan.
When Dylan was 9 weeks old, Natalie, then 29, was giving Cole a bath one night. Afterward, as she reached for a diaper, she suddenly collapsed. Crawling into the hallway, she shouted for her husband, who was downstairs making dinner.
“I think I’m having a stroke!” she cried, although she wasn’t sure why she thought of a stroke. Her husband suggested she might just be exhausted, given the lack of sleep with a newborn and a toddler. However, Natalie didn’t feel right and went to retrieve her doctor’s phone number. On the way, she fell down the stairs. After finally dialing the number, she tried to speak, but no words came out. The answering service representative kept saying, “Hello?” but frustrated, Natalie hung up. She then called her in-laws, but when they heard static, they assumed Cole had accidentally dialed them and hung up.
