Little did I realise that in 2021; the year after the world stood still because of COVID-19 that my life would change in a moment. 

I trained to become a vaccinator.  However, I never made it to front line to help.  On the 1^st of March 2021, I was given the opportunity to have the Astra Zeneca vaccine (AKA Oxford Vaccine).  After day four after the vaccination I started to feel really unwell and I visited Northwick Park A&E twice. On my second visit and day ten, I was taken by ambulance.  However, the doctors could not find anything wrong, but I was unable to walk properly as I had started to lose sensation in my legs.  The doctors carried out a CT scan of my brain – it showed that I was having an acute stroke due to a blood clot.

I was alone, away from my husband and daughter as neither were allowed accompany me due COVID-19 restrictions in place.  Being told you have had a stroke during unprecedented times, was the scariest moment in my life.   You hear of elderly people having strokes but never a young person, until now.  I am a stroke survivor and I am slowly starting to realise the impact the damage has left on my physical body and mind – the injury to the brain.   I have always been a fighter so just tried to do by best.  On day two I got rid of the walking frame, battled with hallucination and paranoia (caused by a chemical reaction in the brain after a stroke), had physio, occupational therapy etc., and was released from hospital just over a week later.

Trying to do the best I could in under the circumstances I called upon a dear friend to share reiki with me, as I was not strong enough to self-heal (reiki is a Japanese form of energy healing which is used to compliment science/medicine – both physical and emotional).  Six months on friends and family think I am back to normal.  If you look at me, you would not see anything wrong with me.  I gained my balance back and my peripheral vision is getting better.  However, no one is there to explain to them what you can expect after a stroke, but here is a list of the hidden disabilities I am left with:-

• Loss of peripheral vision
• Sensitivity to loud noise
• Not being able to get my words out quick enough
• Fatigue
• Anxiety attacks

My life before my stroke was normal.  I have lived well, was a full-time working mum of a daughter aged 14 and a wife to a husband to whom I have been married to for 21 years.  However, having a stroke does impact every aspect of your life and those around you.  Adjusting back into society has been tough.  Each day brings its own challenges from anxiety to a knock in your own self-confidence, but I am a fighter and I am determined to continue to impart and share knowledge from my ‘new norm’ way of life.  I still have the tiny spark in me that drives me each day to educate family and friends and the wider community about my stroke journey.  The old stigma of an elderly stroke patient needs to diminish – it can happen to anyone, and at any time.

The universe had already guided me to where I am today. In 2019 I embarked  on a spiritual/self-finding journey and became a Reiki Practitioner.  After 23 years in recruitment, I decided to take a sabbatical from the recruitment industry to give back to society, helping COVID patients through distant healing and raising money for food-banks for those in hard times.

I have continued to use reiki and meditation to self-heal and to compliment the scientific/medicinal therapy.  I am truly grateful that the universe has brought me here.  I never made it front line to deliver the vaccines, but I do feel that if I was meant to be one of the few to have a blood clot, which led to the decision that the AZ vaccine will no longer given to anyone under the age of 40, and thus saving more lives, then I feel honoured and blessed to have been part of a bigger picture.

With no previous or underlying conditions to date, I have no answer as to why I had the stroke.  The doctors suspect it was the vaccine but cannot confirm – the investigation continues.  Will I ever get closure I do not know but I have to stop living in the past and let go and live in the present.  I am such a lucky woman and truly blessed.

Six months on I am here, I am present and I am grateful to be given a chance to learn more things in life.  I have signed up to an online diploma and am looking for part time employment.

A big thank you to my stroke family in the Different Strokes Facebook Group and charity page. Thank you NHS staff who have looked after and fought against my husband to transfer me to private care on this part of my journey. Thank you friends and family and of course, thank you universe.