Twelve months ago I suffered a stroke, a blood clot to the right side of my brain. It affected my left side, arm, leg and hand, it also affected my speech. It came out of the blue, I had no warning, it just happened. I had never really thought about strokes or their victims before this, I had always considered myself as a fit and healthy person but when this happened to me it changed my life and my family’s life in an instant. To suddenly lose the use of certain parts of your body was very frightening for all of us, I remember thinking, "when’s the next one coming" and "will it be fatal?" I didn’t want to be left by myself, and no one wanted to leave me by myself. I felt a mess and to be honest I fell apart for a while. 

When I arrived in hospital the stroke team were fabulous and all over me, the care was first class (Worcester Hospital Stroke Ward), then on discharge the Local Stroke Community team were in touch and doing home visits offering all sorts of support.