Stacey Yepes was driving home from work when she felt the left side of her body go suddenly numb and begin to tingle.

She immediately pulled over, took out her phone and began recording the symptoms as they unfolded.

“I just needed to be able to show someone what was happening to me,” Ms Yepes told 9news.com.au

The video, which shows Ms Yepes describing facial paralysis and numbness to losing coordination of her hands, subsequently garnered hundreds of thousands of views online, and was even adopted by one hospital as an educational resource.

Ms Yepes said she believes the video has “made a difference” in the lives of many viewers.

“Since sharing my stroke selfie video, three of my personal friends told me about someone they personally knew went to the hospital and received treatment for their stroke symptoms because of seeing my video,” Ms Yepes said.

“I have also received messages on social media from complete strangers telling me my video made a difference in their life or someone they knew.”

Ms Yepes, a Toronto-based consultant for a skincare and cosmetics company who is in her 50s, posted the video almost three years ago, yet every day it continues to do the rounds online.

Just last week the video was re-posted to Reddit, where it was received thousands views.

Ms Yepes said the mini stroke was one of three suffered over three consecutive days, later identified as transient ischemic attacks: a precursor to a more severe stroke.

Doctors believed at the time it was triggered by a build-up of plaque in an artery in her brain, a condition known as atherosclerosis.

While Ms Yepes immediately undertook preventative treatment and has not suffered symptoms since, she said the diagnosis came as something of a shock.

“Since I never had, and still to this day do not have, high blood pressure or high cholesterol, I am not diabetic and I do not smoke, which are common causes of stroke, it is puzzling why I have atherosclerosis,” she said.

Ms Yepes’ story serves as a reminder that stroke can strike anywhere, anytime.

“I don't think strokes target a type, but depending on the type of stroke lifestyle factors can attribute to them. Most strokes are completely indiscriminate,” Victorian father-of-one Alex Wright told 9news.com.au.

Mr Wright, who is in his 30s, suffered a stroke while out running in March last year and collapsed in a carpark.

He said at the time he had no idea what was going and recalls asking bystanders to “cancel” the ambulance.

“I was trying to get away but I couldn’t stand up, I couldn’t move my left side, I was trying to get away crawling on my right side,” he said.

Mr Wright later learned that he had suffered what was called spontaneous carotid artery dissection, a health condition which until that point had been completely undetectable.

As a result of his stroke, Mr Wright has been forced to temporary give up his career as a hydraulic design and estimating consultant to work as a plumber, “until my brain recovers enough to be working in a high functioning environment”.

Mr Wright continues to suffer weakness on the left side of his body, but is hopeful he will be able to one day return to his previous job.

Stroke is one of Australia’s biggest killers and a leading cause of disability, however more than 80 percent of stroke-related incidences can be prevented, the Stroke Foundation reports.

Stroke symptoms can be recognised with the help of the acronym FAST – the same acronym which helped Ms Yepes pinpoint the cause of her own symptoms.

“F – is your face frozen/droopy? A – can you raise both arms and hold them at the same level? S – is your speech garbled or slurred? T – time is critical: contact emergency services immediately,” Ms Yepes said.