Jackson teen reunites with nurse who saved his life after stroke

BEMIS, Tenn. — “We could have been having his funeral rather than celebrating his birthday,” mother Deborah Griffin said.

Days before family and friends gather to celebrate a 14th birthday, they are reunited with a hero they say is responsible for allowing the teen to see another year.

“I walked out into the hallway and fell on the ground,” student Isiah Griffin said. Griffin, a seventh grader at West Bemis Middle School, was in class Friday when he noticed something wasn’t right.

“I heard this buzzing in my ear, and it got louder and louder and my vision got blurry, and I really couldn’t see very well,” he said. “All I can remember is me standing up trying to go to the teacher, but I couldn’t walk straight. It’s like I had two different kind of legs walking in different directions,” Griffin said.

That’s when school nurse Carrie Stephenson answered the call.

“I walked down there thinking it was just a stomach virus,” Stephenson said.

She quickly knew something wasn’t right.

“He would go unconscious, his eyes would roll in the back of his head, and the whole time I was trying to watch his breathing,” Stephenson said. 

“She knew it was more than just taking him home, giving him aspirin and putting him in the bed,” Deborah Griffin said.

“I knew it was serious — I just didn’t know how bad it was,” Stephenson said.

Doctors say Isiah had a stroke as well as a blood clot.

“Will I get to see home again? Will I get to see my friends again?” Griffin said.

“If we lost our heads, Isiah was going to die,” Stephenson said.

Carrie couldn’t let go, even after he was in the hospital.

“As a Christian and as his nurse, I called and asked if I could call and pray with her,” Stephenson said.

“This school was right there with me. They were just like a family,” Deborah Griffin said.

Deborah said that having a nurse in the school is what kept her son alive and that she is going to fight to make sure there is a nurse in every school in the Jackson-Madison County School District.

“Everyone wants to call me a hero. I’m just a nurse just like other nurses, and I hope they would do the same thing,” Stephenson said.

“I think Ms. Carrie deserves nurse of the year. She’s my hero,” Deborah Griffin said.

The family says Isiah is not out of the woods yet and has a long road ahead of him. He starts rehab and therapy in January, but for now the family says they are grateful to have him still alive.

He plans to return to school next month.