In October '11 I had a stroke while on holiday in Canada.  Luckily I got to a teaching hospital quickly, the clot was dissolved and after a hard 6 months I was back to being me.  The last year has been interesting, but made much less frightening by the help provided by CHSS.  Without their clear and practical advice, covering everything from diet to insurance, the initial shock would have lasted much longer and my recovery would have been much slower.

In Edinburgh the home visits are done by very useful nurses who are partly funded by CHSS.  The charity also provides a helpline and a website that has all the information you could need on strokes and how to recover from them.

They also run the FAST campaign which promotes the quick recognition of the 32 strokes that happen each day in Scotland.  Getting someone to A&E quickly means so much more can be done to lessen the impact.

Over three days in early September I plan to walk the John Muir Way, from Dunglass to Musselburgh.