Though the use of a catheter, Carrington inserted the MERCI retriever into Bruno’s groin and threaded it up to his brain, where it plucked from his brain the clot causing Bruno’s stroke. According to Carrington, six hours is the accepted window of opportunity when treating a patient with the MERCI retriever; the time frame is even smaller when using intravenous drugs.

It was 3:30 in the afternoon when Bruno fell in his bathroom, and about 8 p.m. when he was taken for surgery. Had Bonna wasted any time calling 911, or been away from the house at her yoga class, as she would have been had Bruno fallen even 10 minutes later, it’s likely her husband would not have survived.

But by the time Bonna saw him after surgery at 11 p.m. that night, he was able to move his left leg with ease.

“It was amazing to see the movement come back,” Bonna said.

Perhaps amazing to no one more than Bruno, who after awaking from surgery had no idea why he was in the hospital.

Bruno remembers falling the afternoon after swimming, he said, but nothing else.

“It was so quick, it’s unbelievable,” Bruno, a Frenchman and retired electrician, said. “No pain whatsoever.”

To this day, Bonna isn’t sure how she knew Bruno was having a stroke. She just knew.

Just like she knew 40 years ago as a student in France that she would marry Bruno Cafiso after she met him at a pizzeria. The day was Jan. 26, 1969. They were married nine months later and will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary this year.

Now three years after Bruno’s stroke, the couple spends much of their time with Ryan and their new granddaughter, Alyssa, 2 months.

Bruno, or Papi as Ryan calls him, said chasing the active 3-year-old is better therapy than the weight training he does at the YMCA.

“Even though he makes me tired when he’s here, but when he’s not here I miss him so much,” Bruno said.

And aside from favoring his left side and losing a few strokes on his golf game, Bruno said, and Carrington agreed, that he has had no lasting effects from the stroke he almost didn’t survive.

“When we can get a patient in the right time window and are successful in getting them treat appropriately,” Carrington said, “it is very satisfying.”