BOSTON -- Thirty years of marriage almost came to an abrupt and tragic end for the Levys when Barbara Levy suffered an unexpected stroke.

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"I was 52 at the time. I had absolutely nothing that would indicate that I would have a stroke," Barbara Levy said.

It was a year and a half ago, and timing, a little-used drug and surprise visits from family proved key to her survival. Her youngest daughter arrived that day as Barbara Levy awoke.

"And I said something to her, and she looked at me funny. And it turns out it was garbled," Barbara Levy said.

As her oldest daughter walked through the door, Barbara Levy collapsed.

"I had no speech, and I had nothing on my right side. I had no movement -- nothing," she said.

Thankfully, she was not alone. The girls immediately called paramedics, and 20 minutes later, Barbara Levy was rolled into the emergency room.

"It was a very quick assessment. Within four or five minutes, it was clear she was having a stroke," Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's Dr. Jonathon Edlow said.

A specialized MRI gave the unmistakable confirmation. A clot blocked the major artery, depriving her brain.

A clot blocked the major artery, depriving her brain of blood.

"The area that was not getting enough blood was this whole area here on the left side," Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's Dr. Lou Caplan said.

The area was critical for speech and movement of her right side.

"She would have great difficulty in understanding spoken language, in understanding written language, in speaking and in using particularly her right hand," Caplan said.

But time was on Barbara Levy's side. Only 40 minutes had passed.

"If they can arrive within three hours of the start of their symptoms, and receive a drug through the vein called tissue plasminogen activator, TPA, it's a clot buster, those patients have a 3O percent or better chance of returning to independent living than people who did not get that drug," Massachusetts General Hospital's Dr. Lee Schwamm said.

Barbara got the TPA, and it slowly dissolved her clot. But despite its effectiveness, it's a drug most stroke victims do not receive.

Depending on where you live, you may not have access to TPA. NewsCenter 5 polled Massachusetts hospitals and found some don't even carry it. And many that do, admit it's rarely used.

"The drug is underutilized," Schwamm said.

In fact, less than 5 percent of stroke victims are treated with TPA. It requires expertise, and sophisticated diagnostic equipment some hospitals don't have. Used incorrectly, TPA itself can be deadly, and many doctors fear the risk.

Barbara Levy was rushed to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center -- a stroke center -- where ironically, four months earlier, her husband, Paul Levy, took over as president.

"It was pretty scary. It was very scary, especially for our daughters. If Sarah and Rebecca had not been home, I wouldn't have been home for another two to three hours. Who knows what would have happened then," Paul Levy said.

Even with timely treatment and TPA, Barbara Levy has some impairment.

Though traumatic and subtly disabling, she now realizes hers was in some ways a stroke of luck.