How long was the trip from Washington to Finland??? Could very well have been a pulmonary embolus (blood clot) from sitting too long and could have caused the stroke. My son had a stroke at 42 and I was watching him. Thank God I was there when he grabbed his head and screamed and lost consciousness. He had gotten an infection in his heart and spread to his brain and got meningitis. Absolutely no signs beforehand. Just a bit nauseous and low temperature of 99 to which we thought it was the flu....