Profile

Health Interests

Stroke Awareness and Recovery Heart

Drugs I am Taking

Cleo Hutton has not shared any drug information.

About Me

Cleo Hutton is a stroke survivor, professional speaker, Licensed Practical Nurse, educator, and advocate for stroke awareness and recovery. Hutton is author of After a Stroke: 300 Tips to Making Life Easier, published by Demos Medical Publishing, New York, NY, 2005. Cleo’s first book, coauthored with Louis R. Caplan, M.D., Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Chief of Stroke Services at Beth-Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Striking Back at Stroke: A Doctor-Patient Journal was published by Dana Press, Washington, DC, 2003.

Cleo Hutton contributed to the books Stroke, by Louis R. Caplan, MD (Demos Med. Pub. 2005) and
Brain Attack: The Journey Back, edited by Liz Pearl, M.ED. (KOPE Associates, Toronto, Canada, 2005).

Striking Back at Stroke: A Doctor-Patient Journal is overwhelmingly endorsed by Guy McKhann, M.D., Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience, John Hopkins University School of Medicine, Jordan Grafman, Ph.D., Chief, Cognitive Neuroscience Section, NINDS and Al Siebert, Ph.D., author of The Survivor Personality and Director of the Resiliency Center. Striking Back at Stroke is distributed worldwide by the University of Chicago Press.

After a Stroke: 300 Tips for Making Life Easier continues to receive national acclaim and is published internationally in several languages. All four books are available at bookstores or book websites including www.Amazon.com

Hutton presents lectures around the world about stroke and recovery by addressing issues through the eyes of experience.  In February 2004 she was guest lecturer at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. 

Cleo is a compassionate speaker who uses her heart, humor, and experience to deliver a message of hope and healing. She is a survivor of two strokes which initially rendered her without the ability to move or speak. After several years of what she calls “continuous rehab through everyday living” she is now able to share her unique personal story and communicate a message of celebration. In so doing, Cleo breaks paradigms rooted in myths and misconceptions concerning stroke.

At the age of 43, Hutton had two right-side ischemic strokes, followed by heart surgery to repair a congenital heart defect. After formal rehabilitation, Hutton returned to college and graduated, at the young age of 50, with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Minnesota. Through sheer determination and perseverance to regain control of her life she attained Dean’s List status every grading period and graduated with honors.

She is a freelance writer and has published articles in the American Stroke Association’s Stroke Connection and The National Stroke Associations Stroke Smart magazines.

Hutton has presented at Stroke Survivor and Caregiver Conferences co-sponsored by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association affiliates in Florida/Puerto Rico, Northland affiliates of Duluth, Minneapolis, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, and more.  On September 20, 2003 Cleo Hutton received the Marion Rasmussen Award “for her dedication in educating others about stroke” presented by the Life After Stroke Committee in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Cleo has also presented at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Boston, Women’s Health Summit, Bismarck, ND, University of Minnesota Duluth – Access for All, Lutheran Church Women MN Synod Annual Conferences, AATH Annual Conference Tampa Bay, FL. Cleo Hutton will be the keynote speaker in Albany, NY at the Capitol Region Heart Walk sponsored by the AHA/ASA  in October 2008.

Cleo Hutton is one of ten women given the Northland News Center “Women in Leadership” award in 2007. 


Cleo’s campaign to spread the word of stroke has culminated in over 40 national radio shows and television broadcasts including CNN Health. Cleo Hutton is featured in Prevention Magazine’s October 2003 issue “It Could Happen to You” and Cerebrum Magazine (Dana Press) October 2003 edition. Hutton is featured in National Stroke Association’s Stroke Smart magazine “The Power of Print” by Allan Katz Nov/Dec 2005 and “The Courage to Start Over” by Kathleen Bohland Jan/Feb 2002.

Cleo’s mission, through Stroke Awareness and Recovery, is to promote healing through a positive outlook and provide encouragement for people living with the affects of stroke. 

Cleo keeps her finger on the pulse of fellow stroke heroes and their families by talking to others through internet sites that provide for friendship. Cleo is part of MySpace www.myspace.com/cleohutton ,Tagged www.tagged.com/cleohutton , and Facebook www.facebook.com/cleohutton . Here she provides Stroke Quizzes, “Map your Location” for stroke heroes throughout the world, Warning Signs of Stroke, information about upcoming events, and monthly blogs. 

Hutton is the mother of three adult children and a grandmother. She lives in northern Minnesota with her two Tabby cats, Buddy and Lucy.

The name, Cleo Hutton, is a pseudonym for medical and family privacy.

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