During a stroke, her doctor son got her quick care, then her granddaughter penned a story

Rekha Desai planned to play Legos and blocks with her 2-year-old grandson, Kaveh, as she watched him in his Atlanta home.

But Rekha never arrived. Instead, the 73-year-old lay in a gurney thousands of feet in the air after having a stroke.

A helicopter raced Rekha to a hospital that could perform a specialized procedure. Her son, Dr. Dhaval Desai, drove 20 minutes to meet her. His wife, Dr. Yogita Tailor, also a doctor, waited nervously at home with Kaveh and their daughter, Kaiya.

"Will Dida be OK?" Kaiya asked about her grandmother, or dida, her best friend and cooking and slumber party partner.

Yogita hugged Kaiya and hoped the answer would be yes.

Rekha's medical drama started in July 2022 when her son asked her to watch Kaveh while he worked so Yogita could take Kaiya to a friend's birthday party.

That morning, Yogita called Dhaval at the hospital.

"Your mom isn't feeling well," she said. "She doesn't think she should watch Kaveh."

Rekha was dehydrated and vomiting. Yogita speculated that her mother-in-law had a stomach bug.

Dhaval wasn't overly concerned. With his mother's small stature, vegetarian diet and "go, go, go" attitude, it wasn't unusual for her to get weak from not eating or drinking enough. Still, he left work to go check on her.

He found her in bed. Dhaval took her blood pressure. It was normal. A COVID-19 test was negative. He gave her water and saltines and nausea medicine.

Soon after, Rekha vomited again. The room was spinning.

"Something's not right," said Dhaval, who works in internal medicine and pediatrics. "We're going to the ER."

"No," Rekha said. "I'll drink more water and hydrate."

But Dhaval wouldn't take no for an answer. He called a colleague in the ER. "We're on our way," he said.

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