It’s almost 3 years since I had my stroke. I was 51 years old. It came completely out of the blue, I went to bed and everything worked, woke in the morning paralysed on my left side. I thought I’d be back at work and back to ’normal’ in a couple of weeks. Instead my life will never be the same.

Every year 100,000 people have a stroke and a 1/4 of these people are under the age of 65. That's 25,000 younger people whose lives are changed in an instant.

Stroke is also the single biggest cause of disability in the UK, but it's not always the visible disabilities that stroke survivors have to contend with, debilitating fatigue, cognitive problems and personality changes can also be a lifelong challenge, preventing them from returning to work or bringing up a young family.

Different Strokes empowers younger survivors to reclaim their lives. They and their support have been a huge part of my recovery. Plus I have a fantastic group of Facebook friends and fellow stroke survivors that constantly encourage me all thanks to Different Strokes.