A man in his 20s has suffered a stroke after cracking his neck so hard that he tore an artery.
Dad-of-two Josh Hader, 28, almost died after popping his neck, with doctors saying the act of doing so caused him to rip his vertebral artery.
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"The moment I heard the pop, everything on my left side started to go numb," Hader, from Guthrie, Oklahoma, told KOCO 5 News.
"I got up and tried to get an ice pack from the fridge, and I remember I couldn't walk straight."
Hader's father-in-law then rushed him to the emergency room at Guthrie's Mercy Hospital.
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While Hader thankfully survived the stroke, it did cause a great deal of damage.
Along with vision problems for a few days and painful hiccups that lasted a week and a half, Hader still struggles to walk - having joked in a Facebook post: "[I] learned that I can still walk (although not as good as my 1 year old son)."
But he admitted the hardest part wasn't any of that - but not being able to help his wife take care of their youngest son.
"I can't pick him up out of the crib, give him milk in the middle of the night," he said.
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"I can't do any of that."
Mind you, Hader's doctor, Dr. Vance McCollum, said things could have been much, much worse.
"He could have formed more clot on that tear and had a life-ending stroke," Dr. McCollom, a radiologist at Mercy Hospital, said.
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"He could have died."
According to McCollom, there is also a right way and a wrong way to crack your neck.
"If you want to pop your neck, just kind of pop it side to side," he said.
"Don't twist it. Whenever you twist it, there's a risk of tearing that vessel."
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In an emotional Facebook post last month, Hader said he still had a 'long way' to go, but was grateful for all the support he's received.
He wrote: "I have surpassed everyone's expectations and am being released tomorrow instead of Monday.
"That being said, I cannot express how grateful I am for all the help I've received during this stressful time. My family is extremely thankful for all the prayers and good thoughts sent our way, as well as all the help with the financial side of things. This whole ordeal has really hit home with how blessed we are and I can't express how appreciative I am.
"I am still a long way away from being 'healed' completely but I'm impressed with how much progress I've made in the past 2 weeks.
"Again, I'd like to thank everyone for the absolute blast of love and support."
Featured Image Credit: ABC