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It's very rare for people that young to have strokes (especially for them to die from them), but not unheard of. Usually at that age they are something called a transient ischemic attack (fancy word for stroke that doesn't kill you and you recover from in under 24 hours).
Many times there is an undiagnosed genetic or other type of clotting disease/ inherited disorder. More often than not they can manifest as early as 4-6 years of age. It is very scary because a 6 year old brought into the emergency room with loss of use or limited mobility can be often mis-diagnosed. Many doc's are unfamiliar with this type of syndrome and will chalk things up to a new or paranoid parent. Sometimes the patient will be sent home (especially in the case of a mild transient attack where recovery occurs very quickly) without the full battery of tests.
Many times these small attacks are simply a warning sign of things to come. Believe it or not the statistic for childhood strokes is 1 in 25,000.
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