At 34 years old I never thought I would be writing "my story" but here I am 9 months post stroke in the early stages of recovery. 

I considered myself to be a relatively healthy 34 year old-busy mum to a young daughter, always living my life at 100mph, working full time for a London Insurance Brokers and juggling life. 

2020 was already a strange year for everyone; full of uncertainty and anxiety, brought on by the worldwide Cornavirus pandemic. I had to quickly adapt to working at home and juggle childcare during the times of lockdown, it was not easy.

The run up to Christmas was as busy as it could be during a national lockdown. It was December 23rd 2020 and my daughter woke up at a normal time of 6am, as usual I got out of bed and felt fine. I went into the kitchen where suddenly, a rush of dizziness came over me, followed by blurred vision and a real fog-like feeling going on in my head. I stumbled to the sofa where I suddenly felt so panicked; I thought I was going to faint at this point, because I was panicking about my daughter, I dashed to my neighbor for help. At this point, I could not stand without falling. 999 was called. My speech became slurred and I could not talk properly. My tongue felt too big for my mouth; I just did not remember experiencing any of these symptoms before.

The paramedics arrived and performed various observations. They quickly concluded that I had a panic attack but because of what was happening to me and with my speech not being normal I really was not sure they were right.

I was told to rest over the next 24 hours, I was in and out of sleep, My body felt so strange and I felt so weak. It was 2am when I woke up and went to scratch my nose to feel numbness across my hand, I was in a dazed state, but must have gone back to sleep. At 6am I woke up for my daughter but having attempted to get out of bed, I collapsed. I then began to realise that my whole left side had become paralysed, with no feeling at all. I was unable to hold my mobile or make a phone call. My daughter helped me call my mum and she quickly contacted my brother to ask him to take me to hospital.

Due to my age the nurses at the hospital did not want to believe I was suffering from anything serious and the suggestions of it being a stroke was dismissed 4 times however once I had a CT scan, it was confirmed that I suffered a right MCA Ischemic Stroke.

Since being out of hospital I have been diagnosed with

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), sometimes known as Hughes syndrome, is a disorder of the immune system that causes an increased risk of blood clots.

I have faced many frustrations during my recovery mainly with severe daily fatigue which stops me in my tracks however I have returned back to work on a phased return basis and my employer has been incredibly supportive through this whole time. I have an amazing network of family and friends around me who help me through everyday challenges who I couldn't be without.  My boyfriend who has stood by me and been my rock and my beautiful daughter who has shown extreme resilience through this whole time. I am trying my best to regain normality as much as possible but it is not without limitations.

I still have a lot of challenges ahead of me but I refuse to accept this is it, I will continue to push through and create new milestones for myself. I find sometimes it can consume me and impacts me in a negative way so doing something like this I want to be able to feel I am apart of something positive and to show myself how far l have come in a short space of time. I also would like to dedicate this challenge to A stroke of luck charity who have been there in the times of need. I have met some life long friends along the way too from the charity and I will be forever grateful to that.

National Stroke Day 29th October 2021.