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Why i'm raising money for Headway

On February 13th this year my husband Matt was rushed into hospital. He'd had a stroke and was immediately transferred to The University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. He was critical, but thanks to amazing surgeons, after a seven hour operation he was back on the ward. He remained on the Neuro-surgery High Dependency Unit for nearly 6 weeks. He has no recollection of the first 3 weeks which I think is probably a good thing as he was so poorly. This was a really hard time for our family, especially when he didn't know who i was - or he didn't know his children. I prayed this would get better and luckily for me it did!! I could deal with helping to rebuild his body, but his mind was another story...if the memories of us didn't come back i would have been devastated. He wasn't well enough to see our children for 4 weeks which had a huge impact on our 10 year old son. our 4 year old wasn't too bad, luckily she was too young to take it in. Our 20 year old was devastated but stayed strong for me and her brother and sister. I also have a 13 year old step-daughter who was worried about her Dad but her Mum helped me out with giving her the news, I know only too well there's no-one quite your Mam to make you feel better.

On to my own Mother, she was and still is my rock. without her I would have crumbled....I have the most amazing parents and family I could ever wish for. They have been there to help me through the worst time of my life.

There was also a nurse who worked with Headway as a liason nurse. She dealt with families and patients who suffered brain injuries. She was another person I will always be grateful for. She met up with me every week and told me everything that was going on. She also made me feel like I wasn't going nuts (when clearly i was..) She would tell me all my emotions were normal and always guided me to think of the positives, she helped me keep my sanity and she is one of the main reasons i'm raising money for Headway. Not every hospital are lucky enough to have someone like Lisa on their team, but it would be amazing if they could!!

My husband doesn't mind me writing a bit of our story as he's slowly getting better. I had to watch my strong, confident, outgoing 36 year old husband learn to talk and walk again. All the everyday things we take for granted like bathing, showering, brushing our teeth, even making a cuppa had to be learned!! The first time I watched him try to walk after his stroke was the saddest moment of my whole life, it really broke my heart and was the only time I broke down and really cried - I cried until I couldn't breathe. The next day though we got back to business, he had a walking frame and went a tiny bit further everyday.

Another bit that haunts me was when he had this emptiness behind his eyes, it was just blank and I often wondered if he would look at me and actually look happy or sad..any expression would have been ok as long as it wasn't that emptiness. Again this eventually got back to normal!!

Now Matt is home and has stepped up a notch and walks using crutches. The surgeons/Doctors have told him he will never walk unaided but if there's anyone on this earth who will prove them wrong it's him. He's starting to feel better and we are both looking to the future. All the little things that would get us down don't seem half as drastic anymore, we know there are bigger things too worry about. All he wants now is normality, to be able to walk around the pond with our kids and dog. It's not a lot to ask but to us it means everything.

Thanks for reading this and a massive thanks in advance to anyone who chooses to sponsor me, it's going to a really good cause...bring on the sky-diving...EEEEK!!!!!!!  xx