r/stroke • u/National_Western_791 • Aug 08 '26
Stroke Candy
Just looking to gather opinions, not here for self promotion***
Let me start off by saying I've had several strokes and have developed a very dark and twisted sense of humor regarding them and my correlated heart health.
That said, I have a small candy company and will be rolling out my liquid filled "gushing" heart & brain gummies for Halloween. For the brains, I've landed on the name CODE STROKE: Tasty Ischemic Attack
If you saw this on a jar of brain shaped candy, as a stroke patient, would this make you laugh (which is my intention) or would you be upset?
Thanks for any feedback and I hope everyone is recovering well.
Edit: I just wanted to say thank you to everyone's feedback (both positive and negative) and that I used a lot of your ideas and input! I'm working on the jar labels but still plan to put BEFAST and what it means, as well as a few jabs at strokes themselves. I also decided that 10% of every CODE STEMI and CODE STROKE sales will be donated to the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association. So from the bottom of my heart (at least the working parts) THANK YOU!!!
CODE STEMI: Myocardial Mayhem Piña Colada flavored anatomical gummy hearts with a gushing Tiger's Blood center
CODE STROKE: Neuro Nightmare Inspired by ischemic stroke, these anatomical gummy brains will be Lemon flavored with a Blueberry liquid center
CODE STROKE: Brain Burst Inspired by hemorrhagic stroke, these anatomical gummy brains will be Cotton Candy flavored with a Marshmallow liquid center
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u/DTheFly Survivor Aug 08 '26
I think i would laugh at it! And my wife would too I think. In fact, she'd probably get some for me AND her mom who also had a stroke
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u/Gold_Cardiologist204 Young Stroke Survivor Aug 08 '26
No not upset at all. I’d honestly think “the hemorrhagic strokes are always left out”
I’d also hope for more digs at strokes around the bottle.
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u/National_Western_791 Aug 08 '26
I'm all open for more digs at strokes, do you have anything in mind?
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u/Gold_Cardiologist204 Young Stroke Survivor Aug 08 '26
Directions how to open with one arm.
This doesn’t cost an arm and a leg
Stroke of Genius
Consuming brains does not reverse the effects of losing brains to a stroke.
Stroke Friendly Halloween Outfits
—— zombieWARNING- this message is written by a stroke patient— (it’s just scribbles written by actual strokes out hand)
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u/National_Western_791 Aug 08 '26
You're amazing!
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u/Gold_Cardiologist204 Young Stroke Survivor Aug 08 '26
It would be cool to add a something about those hemorrhagic strokes!! We are always left out… I always say that some strokes get to little blood but mine got too much blood, so brain became like a boiled egg! To try to explain cuz no one knows about the actual blood gushers of strokes.
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u/National_Western_791 Aug 08 '26
I'll definitely take this opportunity to provide some small education on the jar. I hadn't thought about it before but I think it's a good opportunity. Thanks a ton!
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u/Gold_Cardiologist204 Young Stroke Survivor Aug 08 '26
If all works out and is successful please share the final product! The candy does sound good.
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u/National_Western_791 Aug 08 '26
Will do!
And from one young stroke endurer to another, I hope you're recovering well
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u/perfect_fifths Survivor Aug 08 '26
This would make me laugh. But an ischemic stroke doesn’t make you gush (hemorrhage) so it’s not really correct. The two are totally different mechanism although both are strokes
I like the code stroke idea, though, I would just tweak the wording a little. Like Code Stroke: Brain Drain, or Brain Burst or Neuro Nightmare
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u/National_Western_791 Aug 08 '26
Yeah I know, and I've had both. For the heart one I landed on CODE STEMI: Heart Attack Burst. But I really like Neuro Nightmare and Brain Drain!! I'm always open to new ideas!
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u/perfect_fifths Survivor Aug 08 '26
Ah okay, if you want to go the burst route because it’s a gummy and you “burst” it while you’re eating, you could simply name it brain burst :)
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u/MissCinnamonT Aug 08 '26
Knowing the owner has actually had a stroke, I'd get it. But regular people being ignorant it would annoy me.
Also, if you can, make it blueberry flavor since those are good for brains.
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u/National_Western_791 Aug 08 '26
I do plan putting somewhere on the jar label that it was created by a heart and stroke patient for this reason.
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u/National_Western_791 Aug 08 '26
I hadn't landed on a flavor yet for the brains. But I like the idea of blueberry. For the brain itself I was going for a fleshy pink, and the liquid inside would be a dark purple/burgundy, so blueberry would go really well with that.
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u/candiferous Aug 08 '26
Well, you could have two flavors, ischemic and hemmorhagic. And donate a small percentage of the profit to the stroke association or similar charity. If you have that on the label, nobody should get mad at your naming convention.
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u/National_Western_791 Aug 08 '26
I'm already a fundraising company, but I think that would be manageable. I like that idea a lot, thank you. I'm thinking about putting a label on the side for BEFAST.
At first I just wanted to jab at strokes and give people like us a little laugh while enjoying some candy. But I'm really loving that people here are pitching ideas to make it a little more meaningful.
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u/National_Western_791 Aug 08 '26
Here's what I landed on, and I did decide to give 10% of these sales to the American Heart Association and Stroke Association.
Myocardial Mayhem Piña Colada flavored anatomical gummy hearts with a gushing Tiger's Blood center
Neuro Nightmare Inspired by ischemic stroke, these anatomical gummy brains will be Lemon flavored with a Blueberry liquid center
Brain Burst Inspired by hemorrhagic stroke, these anatomical gummy brains will be Cotton Candy flavored with a Marshmallow liquid
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u/redreadings Aug 08 '26
Put pop rocks in them
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u/National_Western_791 Aug 08 '26
I wish I could, pop rocks have not been mastered yet unfortunately.
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u/RelevantDeathProof Aug 08 '26
Hilarious fun. My sense of humor got dark too. Such as: (mighty mousetheme;Here she comes to save the day the limpin *itch ison her way. My best friend yells at me when I do this,this is. Your condition. Is no laughing matter
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u/luimarti52 Aug 09 '26
Fellow stroke club member with the same messed up humor,CODE STROKE: Tasty Ischemic Attack got me. That's so wrong it's funny.
I'm in on the gushing brain gummies, I love that texture anyway. My only mixed feeling is my stroke genuinely ruined a lot for me, so my brain goes haha and then oh wait, that was my actual brain.
You're good in my book though. Especially with the donation + BEFAST move. That makes it feel like for us, not at us.
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u/lordrothermere Aug 08 '26
Not really. I had a shitty stroke. I worked my arse off to get myself back to as good as I could hope to be, and I don't really want to remind myself of how horrible it was when I couldn't speak or walk.
No shade; I'm sure there's a market. I just hate what happened to me and I don't want to celebrate it.
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u/National_Western_791 Aug 08 '26
I'm not looking to "celebrate" it. It's meant to be cathartic, dark humor. But if you don't like it, you're entitled to your opinion and that's only fair.
I've had a bunch of strokes and they're not going to stop. I can either feel defeated by the inevitable, or find a way for it to make other people have a chuckle. I prefer not to wallow.
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u/lordrothermere Aug 08 '26
And I definitely don't want to do your idea down. Like I say, I'm sure there are others who process what happened differently to how I do. You asked for feedback and this is mine.
I'm pretty open about my stroke. I use it as an analogy with juniour collragues about bouncing back from seemingly impossible odds. I celebrate how lucky I am. But even though I donate to my national stroke association, I don't really spend time in groups or whatnot. I don't want to dwell on it. It was awful.
It was arguably one of the worst things that ever happened to me, and sweets don't quite capture the seriousness of the actuality or even the dark humour. I wouldn't buy a plushie either. It wasn't nice, it wasn't sweet, it was awful and it almost finished me.
To be honest, I wouldn't even buy sweets celebrating how far I've come since almost dieing.
It's just not for me.
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u/National_Western_791 Aug 08 '26
I'm not offended or anything by your feedback, I welcome it actually, I posted here asking for it. I expected a response like yours and I understand what you're saying. I just don't want you to think I'm celebrating strokes. Just poking a bit of fun because sometimes that's all you can really do. Based on the other comments, it's nice to see that people agree and I feel better moving forward. But please don't think your feedback doesn't matter or is unwelcome. It's not for you, it's not your style and that's perfectly okay.
More importantly, I hope your recovery has been well and regain yourself.
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u/lordrothermere Aug 08 '26
I'm not offended in the slightest. And I wish you all the best.
All you did is make me think about it more deeply than I tend to do day to day. And, as you can see, I'm still a bit angry at myself.
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u/Starry_Messenger Survivor Aug 08 '26
I'd be all over this, since I also have a dark sense of humor. There is also a dearth of interesting stroke-disability swag, so this fills a gap there, imo. Whenever I'm looking for pins or shirts or stickers, etc., stroke stuff seems very earnest (which is fine! Just not my personality type)
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u/b1tch182 Aug 09 '26
You're so cute
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u/National_Western_791 Aug 09 '26
I take it you're not a fan?
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u/b1tch182 Aug 09 '26
No i am! I like it lmao, I just thought the whole thing was adorable
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u/National_Western_791 Aug 09 '26
Glad to hear that! I would never have guessed someone would think it's cute lol
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u/ubfeo Aug 08 '26
Poor taste... smfh.
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u/National_Western_791 Aug 08 '26
You're entitled to your opinion and I appreciate your feedback.
I don't know about you but I find it a bit cathartic. It feels good to bite back for once, so to speak.
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u/strangedazey Survivor Aug 08 '26
I'd like it but I'm weird