Josh’s Story – Ischaemic Stroke at 26
- Greg Hollingworth
When I had my stroke, I was 26 and had just started my journey of buying our first home and thinking about the lifestyle changes that moving to a new area might bring. I was working for a council in Central London, and planning my next career and life moves, when I began having TIAs. When I woke up on a Wednesday morning I had sharp neck pain, severe dizziness and nausea. I was going into work that morning, and after waiting a while and taking some painkillers the symptoms went away I went to work. My partner convinced me to go the the GP , who gave me an appointment for Friday morning
After explaining my symptoms they believed I had a pinched nerve in my shoulder and prescribed an anti-inflammatory, which did seem to help with some of the long term neck pain I had been getting in the run up to this first incident. On Sunday morning I had another incident that died down after the morning, but my balance was poor throughout the whole day. I remember going for a walk in the late afternoon and kept veering towards the road from the pavement; I was struggling to walk in a straight line.
The following Wednesday I woke up with the same sharp neck pain, the room was spinning and I could barely get around the flat. I stayed in bed hoping that the symptoms would go away as they did before and I would be able to go into work. After calling my partner about what was happening they again convinced me to get help and I dialled 111, and they sent an ambulance. My partner was out of the country and I was alone at home, which made the experience more scary and confusing. I was placed in a general ward at the hospital, after a CT scan showed some damage to my blood vessels in my shoulder. The next day I was eating my dinner on the ward when I realised I was having difficulty swallowing and couldn’t work out why. My mum had just come to visit and so between trying to eat and the conversation I didn’t think much of it, so we were making plans for the weekend. Soon after I came over feverish and with a rash.
A stroke doctor was called and I was put in an ambulance to the hospital. This was when I was told by the crew, after explaining what had happened, that I’d had 3 TIAs and that evening had a full stroke. The news was harrowing, but their positive attitude and explanation that they were taking me to get it sorted and I would be back to normal in no time was very comforting. The morphine I was given in hospital before leaving may have also helped.
I spent two weeks on the Intensive Stroke Unit at St.Georges, where we learnt I had also contracted aspirational pneumonia from not being able to swallow my dinner the other night properly. I could no longer swallow, I could barely talk, could not walk, and the room was spinning, constantly. Oddly, I was also getting random bouts of hiccuping that would last for what felt like forever. The care was magnificent, but the wires, tubes and oxygen mask meant little sleep and a feeling of being trapped. When my first physio session came, it was my turn to convince them to let me try and walk to the other side of the room. After a week I was interested to see what the ward corridor looked like more than anything.
I was eventually transferred back to my local hospital and spent two months in recovery there. I learnt to walk again, and I took regular sensory and speech and language therapy. The routine and having something to do was a breath of fresh air – and I found myself coming back. Eventually I could hobble around the bed and converse with my family. This progressed to walking around the hospital and getting my ability to read and focus my eyes back. Since I couldn’t focus on screens or writing I had taken to doing colouring books in my spare time and in the evenings – this and music kept me going.
Most of the questions around my recovery at this point focused on my ability to swallow. I still could not eat or drink safely by myself, and after several weeks of exercises and trials it was not guaranteed I would get it back. This was the thing I was most worried about; I could not imagine what life would be like without the ability to eat and drink anything.
I don’t think we realise how much of our ability to socialise and leave home is dependent on our ability to consume food and drink on the go. When I was discharged I began to recover even faster, one of the biggest turning points being when my ability to swallow started to come back.
I felt I was on the verge of getting a big part of my life back, and between extra physio sessions and exercises movement and swallowing abilities came back over the following months. My partner and I moved into our first home together in September. I am now back at work full time and moving into a new area, and we have also rescued a dog. These are all things we wanted to do before I had a stroke and were unsure we would be ever even be able to realise.
Having a stroke at a young age can feel almost unfair as it can rob you of ambitions you haven’t had time yet to realise. But being young also means you might bounce back and recover a lot faster and a lot better than you thought. Different Strokes was recommended to me by staff on the recovery ward, and since then I have recently completed the ‘March on’ challenge to raise money for the charity – my personal challenge was to do 15k steps a day. I did manage this, and I have felt that this testifies to how quickly things can change and improve, from what feels like a dire situation. I think that the best way to approach it is to work through things one step at a time, being glad for the abilities you have and have gotten back, while working towards improving others.
Mental health and positivity was a big part of recovery for me. The more you can work at it, the better results might be. I also think you learn to adapt to things a lot easier than you might think at first. Things become normal as you work around them and then they become easier; then you don’t even notice that you are changing anything anymore!
Your donation helps others like Josh on their journeys
There are 100,000 strokes in the UK each year with 1 in 4 happening to somebody of working age or younger. Different Strokes aims to promote independent stroke recovery and help these younger stroke survivors reclaim their lives.
Make a smile lottery is a weekly fundraising lottery. A fun and exciting way to help Different Strokes raise vital funds that will secure our future.
It only costs £1 per play, and you can choose to play every week or whenever you feel like taking a chance and doing something good. For more information click here.
