When life changes at a stroke

The second thing you may notice is how articulate he is for someone who recently suffered a stroke which resulted in having to re-learn the skill of talking all over again.

And the third thing which would probably take you by surprise is his age - at 47 years old Stephen wakened up in hospital one day in February this year to discover he had had a stroke after hardly having a day’s illness in his entire life. “Apart from heartburn, but then everyone gets that every now and then,” he says, almost as an after-thought.

He was not a heavy drinker, nor was he a smoker and his diet was pretty ordinary - not overly healthy but not overly unhealthy either.

He has been told stress may have played a factor and as part of his therapy he is now having to master the unfamiliar skill of “chilling out” a little more and fretting about life’s unavoidable ups and downs a little less.

The Banbridge bus driver and father of a 13-year-old son is the youngest member of Banbridge Young Stroke Club which caters for victims under the age of 65 from throughout the Craigavon and Banbridge Health Trust area and which met for the final time last Tuesday morning before breaking up for the summer.

And, as someone who counts himself “extremely lucky”, he took time out from the meeting to highlight the fact that, despite the common perception, stroke victims don’t have to be in their seventies or eighties and that life does go on after what can be a devastating experience, physically, mentally and emotionally.

In Stephen’s case, a blood clot which formed somewhere high up in the complicated regions of the brain meant he was not as severely affected as he might have been if the clot had occurred in a lower area. Nevertheless, the consequences left him with asphagia or impairment of language and understanding - and meant in the early days of recovery he was unable to even remember his own name.

“For a while I thought I was called Matthew,” he says. “No-one batted an eyelid and I thought I had gotten away with it.”

Not knowing his own name was just one of the startling symptoms Stephen experienced in the days following his stroke on February 14, a date, which despite his memory lapses, he vows never to forget.

“The strange thing was, in my own head I thought I was perfectly normal and thought I was ready to go straight back to work,” he said. “But, apparently, I was coming out with the wrong and most bizarre words for everyday things and I didn’t even know it. It is laughable now of course, but only a matter of months ago it was very worrying, especially for my wife Sharon and son Jamie.

“When they were taking me away in the ambulance, I kept calling it “the big lorry” and I called my eyebrows “curtains” for some inexplicable reason. I didn’t know the words for ‘camera’ or ‘scissors’ and I acted like a 12-year-old child, sitting on the bed swinging my legs back and forth.

“Thankfully, after much intensive work from utterly brilliant and caring people, including my occupational therapist and speech therapist, I have learned to talk properly again - although people have noticed I do that much quicker now and I am much more talkative than I was before my stroke!”

As well as language and memory difficulties, Stephen’s concentration was affected and he suffered from extreme fatigue: “I first noticed this when I tried to cut the grass recently. This is a task which usually takes me half an hour at the most and it took me most of the day. I had to keep taking breaks which was frustrating.”

Apart from tiredness, Stephen says he is now almost back to his old self and he credits the turnaround to some sound advice he was given by a specialised stroke nurse he met during his two-week sojourn in Daisy Hill Hospital, Newry.

“She said if you work hard you will be back to 99 per cent of who you were and that is what I have been concentrating on. I have worked really hard and I am pleased to be where I am today. I don’t think anyone will notice a tiny one per cent!

“What has kept me striving hard has been a desire to get back to work - when you have been working for 30 years it is hard to adjust to all the free time. I miss driving and the instructing part of the job I was involved with and I miss looking foward to a day off! I have also pushed myself because of all the terrific support I have received from everyone from family and friends, to doctors, nurses, therapists, my minister, and the great people in this stroke club where you learn to accept what has happened and to make the most of life.

“At the start, I refused to believe there was anything wrong with me because I didn’t have any outward, physical symptoms such as a droopy hand or weak leg and I didn’t know I was saying the wrong words, so the doctor showed me a scan which showed up as a three-inch shadow on my brain.

“He explained this part was now dead, but the parts surrounding it would, in time, learn to take on the role it had played. He said in simple terms that my body was fine, but my brain was a bit tired and bruised and it would take time to heal.

“It was hard accepting what happened at my age, but I have to learn to take on board the changes and to cope with things better. Before I would worry over nothing, now I don’t.

“Some changes have even been for the better and I have more confidence to speak up now, whereas before I would have said nothing and just bottled things up which is not good for stress levels. I have learned that sometimes you have to be happy with less than 100 per cent perfection in everything.

“I have also met some amazing people at the Young Stroke Club and through it I have had the chance to experience some things I never would have tried before. We went gliding recently which was fantastic; I may not be able to drive my bus yet, but I got to take the controls of the glider so that is a step in the right direction!”

Such life-enhancing experiences are further steps on the journey back to a positive frame of mind, post-stroke, according to Lynn McIlroy, co-ordinator with the Young Stroke Club for the four years it has been in existence.

“We organise these activities because young stroke victims often think ‘I could never do anything like that’,” said Lynn. “Our attitude here is, ‘Of course you can!’ And we do everything in our power to make sure they do.”

Banbridge Young Stroke Club, which currently has around 25 members, is facilitated by the Northern Ireland Chest, Heart and Stroke Association and meets each Tuesday morning in Lawrencetown Community Centre.

Lynn says the important educational, physical and social role it plays in the lives of young stroke victims is made possible due to the role of a dedicated band of volunteers - and more are always welcome.

“Volunteers play a vital part in the running of the club and more are always needed to help with arts, crafts, tea-making and simply chatting and listening,” she said. “We have eight volunteers at the minute who help in all sorts of ways and make life easier for people who have experienced a stroke.”

Anyone interested in finding out more about this rewarding role can contact Lynn 07989573173.