Stroke or Cerebrovascular Accident (CVA) kills about 140,000 Americans each year or 1 out of every 20 deaths. Someone in the United States has a stroke every 40 seconds. And every 4 minutes, someone dies of stroke. Every year, more than 795,000 people in the United States have a stroke. And about 610,000 of these are first or new strokes. Stroke occurs when the blood supply to a part of the brain is interrupted or reduced, causing the brain tissue to become damaged due to a lack of oxygen and nutrients. Within minutes, brain cells begin to die.