My dads life was completely flipped upside down in march 2008 when he sadly suffered a severe stroke, that ripped his whole identity and independence away from him. Not to mention ripping a father away from his 3 teenage daughters .. I unfortunately remember the day like yesterday .. He dropped me off at school in the morning like any other day, it was none uniform day as it was Easter, Good Friday being the next day. I decided that morning I was going to play the wag and leave after my first break, so around 10am.. when I got home I found my dad conscious on the bathroom floor but totally dazed with a scratch above his eye and vomit all over himself. He was a type one diabetic so my first thought was he was having a bad hypo .. but unfortunately once he was taken into South Tyneside Hospital they told us he had suffered a stroke .. I had zero knowledge of what a stroke even was at this point .. He was then rushed up to The General hospital in Newcastle, once we got there we were faced with a decision for them to go ahead and take my dad into surgery to remove the blood clot that was sitting in his Brain from the stroke. We did decide as a family to go ahead with the surgery .. the surgeon described the clot that was removed as being the size of a golf ball and would have caused further damage to his brain, so luckily we did make the right decision in my dads case. 

We had absolutely no idea of the long rough road to recovery that my dad was about to begin.. that we all were about to begin and the next 12 months where unbelievably overwhelming. If I’m honest I don’t remember too much of this time, but I do remember him laughing. He always had the best sense of humour something he really never lost through his whole journey, without this I don’t think me, Vicki and Danielle would of ever made it through like we did. His laugh was so infectious, once he started you really couldn’t help but join in with him. 

He was told he would most probably never walk again, but he did. For 10 years with a walking aid, he even got his driving license back for some time.. absolute legend. He completely lost the use of his right arm/hand, but the most devastating affects of his stroke were 100% his communication issues. He suffered from Aphasia and Dysphagia as a result of the stroke, conditions that affect the muscles in your throat/mouth and face which affect your ability to talk, and the ability to read and write. Many people assumed that because my dad had these conditions he lost his intelligence as well - which was not the case. His brain most definitely still worked, if you put him in front of the chase he would of tried his absolute hardest to shout out the answers, and of course mostly the right answers! His communication issues really did isolate him, it was so hard to watch as a family. He would get so frustrated that he knew exactly what he wanted to say but just couldn't get the words out .. so you’d just get a f*ck off or p*ss off instead! 

In February 2018, 10 years after his first stroke he sadly again had another, which affected his ‘good side’ taken so much more of his independence and snatching my beautiful dad away from us once again ..  In February 2021 he was admitted into hospital with one of his many water infections and unfortunately came out with Covid 19, annoyingly after many many months of shielding from us. His health after Covid really did take a huge decline,  and we had to make a very difficult decision to put him in full time care. Which was incredibly hard for a man of 56 years to accept, this was when we did see a real struggle in my dad, after so many years of so much sh*t being thrown his way he never let anything affect him until this point. But the carers and nurses did eventually turn it around and he settled in there after some time, they all openly said they had a huge soft spot for him, he really was loved by all who met him. 

On the 9th of September he was admitted into Sunderland Royal hospital to undergo surgery to be fitted with a peg feed, as his throat was so weak after all the battering it had gone through for many years and he started to choke on his own saliva .. his food had been taken away from him for some time before this point and he was only able to eat purified food, again something he very much struggled with. The surgery went well and he was in hospital for a further 5 weeks getting the feed right for his peg. We were so eager to get him back home and out to see his beautiful grand babies! Who were not able to visit whilst he was in hospital. But life unfortunately had another plan for my dad, and flipped ours upside down once again when Danielle got a phone call from the hospital on the Tuesday morning, telling us we needed to come to the hospital straight away as his breathing had rapidly changed. He had aspirated some food - which had happened many times before. However this had turned into pneumonia and his body was just too weak to fight it off this time. 

My dad decided to leave this world 2 days later on the 20th October 2022, after having all his girls round his bedside, 48 hours we will absolutely never forget. 

For nearly 15 years my dad put up nothing but the biggest fight .. from a very ambitious 43 year old man who was so independent, loved a pint in the pub, to play golf, to go to football matches, had his own plastering business and so much yet to fulfil in life .. a dad who would do absolutely anything and everything for his children .. was all taken away from him in seconds .. but he got up, got out of bed and got dressed every single day. He stayed so happy and humble for so long, longer than we ever thought he would to be honest. He showed such mental and physical strength, his spirits really were something to admire and he was a absolute joy to be around because of this. He never wanted any pity from anyone and tried to live his life the best he possibly could, facing every day head on. 

So because of this I wanted to set myself some physical and mental challenges this year in his memory, and to help me on my journey after loosing my amazing dad. Things I wish I had done when he was still here too see .. 

The first challenge will be on the 14th May 2023 myself along with friends and family will be taking part in the Yorkshire 3 peak challenge, 25 miles covering 3 peaks under 12 hours. 

The 2nd of July 2023 Karl my fiancé and his good friend Olly are taking part in The half Ironman Triathlon - 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and then finished off with 13.1 mile run, a huge physical and mental challenge! 

Lastly, I will be taking part in a individual challenge on the 10th September 2023, doing The Great North Run - 13.1 mile half marathon, a half marathon my dad took part in himself many years ago. 

All the money raised from this page will be donated to the Stroke Association, a charity that massively helped my dad through his rehabilitation. This charity holds such a special place in my heart, I would love to be able to give something back to them, which will help stroke survivors and their families get the best possible recovery they can after the devastating affects from a stroke. 

Thank you so much to everyone who has took the time to read my dads story .. it really wasn’t easy to write .. but I believe he deserves his story to be finally told.

Thank you for all your donations, they mean so much and they really are going to an amazing charity! 

All my love, 

Rebecca x