Dan's journey and the wisdom he's learned along the way

Dan Trestrail survived a haemorrhagic stroke in 2014. He was 54 at the time of his stroke and working as a Safety Officer. He describes himself as a small percentage of a small percentage of a small percentage.

“A small percentage of people have a stroke during their working life, and a small percentage of those are haemorrhagic (which is me) and a small percentage of those people are at the good end. And that’s me as well!”

This year, Dan is looking forward to shaking the mayor’s hand to recognise 35 years of service with his employer. He volunteers with his state government to help similarly experienced people adapt back into their community.

Speaking about the day of his stroke, Dan says

“I recall being asked [by my neighbour] do I want a Panadol or an ambulance? And I remember thinking this over to myself – that a Panadol would be lovely, I could go back to sleep! But then I panicked and thought – maybe I wouldn’t wake up. And that was my last conscious thought. “

“I recall opening my eyes and I couldn’t do anything else. Couldn’t turn my head, couldn’t move my arms, legs, nothing. And all I could do was see the person in the bed opposite me and close my eyes again. And I’m thinking that was the next day, turns out it was several weeks later.”

Dan reflects on his journey and how his perspective on life and recovery has changed. “There have been some physical deficits but there’s been an odd gain as well. I can read things a bit differently now, I can see things differently.”

Below, Dan shares some of the wisdom he’s learned along the way.

Acceptance

Acceptance is the most important step in the process.

I don’t encourage people to focus on the deficits, I encourage people to accept what they’ve got and [ask] what are you going to do about it? How are you going to take that next step? How are you going to move forward?

Acceptance is a transition, a phase. Acceptance in one area of life might occur but it doesn’t occur everywhere at once. It’s a slow process. For me, it would’ve began a few years ago, but that acceptance is still occurring.

Take that first step

A quote from Lao Tzu is “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” So whilst one sets goals, and they can be huge, massive things, whatever they are. But then you have to break those goals down into achievable outcomes. So like the first step.

And don’t look back, you’re not going that way.

Celebrate every gain

In my experience and from what I’ve read, recovery does not plateau. The recovery is less over time, the first couple of years have the most gains one gets, but the gains still happen over the rest of your life. Sure they’re less, but a gain is still a gain. Celebrate each win.

Don’t give up

There’s no giving up in this game. There is no plateau, although early on a person doesn’t realise it. Hope is important. It’s a journey. You keep going. You get good at something. And then you choose something else to work on. And then you move forward with that. You keep going. There is no stopping, there is no plateau.