Joining a local athletic club helped me in recovery

By Alison

Immediately after my stroke in Feb 2022 I was trying to understand what I had become, and what was still to come. My aims were to:

- understand my new limitations and triggers,

- discover new purpose/interests to put my (new) self with limitations to use, and,

- discover what, and how much, my limitations could be improved.

Even today, my major limitations are aphasia, mobility and sensory issues. Mobility is the toughest as I've been so used to managing for myself, and I remember how vulnerable and unsteady I was in the early days. Even now, I worry about relapse if I don't "use it or lose it" for a few days. I aim to do some level of exercise each day, but still sometimes overdo it.

In my early days of recovery, I felt isolated and lonely from being housebound. I knew it was time to get out and about once I could recognise and name each gecko in my house! I remembered that my local Parkrun offered many volunteer roles so I looked into these to see which I could easily do. Happily, there were a lot! Parkrun volunteering gave me a once-weekly opportunity to get out into my local community, help, and meet new people (and catch up with regulars). The small role I played on Saturday morning contributing to a bigger picture - that's a great feeling.

Eventually I also wanted a weekday "gentle sport" as I wanted to move more but wasn't up to 5km for some time yet. My region offered a few opportunities, but most weren't accessible due to distance. Towards the end of 2022 I discovered my local athletics club where I could participate in as many events as I wanted (winner!) and wasn't a huge distance away (bonus points!). The challenge with athletics is to beat your time/measurement from the previous week - your competition is only yourself, and this is great for my healing mentality. The other advantage is the twice-weekly club training, which fit in well with my physio program. It is amazing to see my results improve weekly, and this drives me to try harder.

Apparently I'm currently the only Northern Territory (NT) female master's para-athlete, so I'm inspired to show others in similar situations how fun, flexible, accommodating and achievable athletics is if they are interested to give it a try. In 2023 I won a couple of NT Championships events for my category - never would I have imagined I would have a couple of medals to hang! I am aiming to do the same in the first week of September, and I hope this year's Paris Olympics and Para-Olympics inspire others to give athletics a try.

Both groups offer me excellent social opportunity, and I feel that I genuinely belong to both as they accept me as I am, both on good days and poorer days. When I have normal regressions, I can postpone as needed and they completely accept this. It's also rewarding to cheer on participants and watch them grow as well.

Please know that I realise my deficits are relatively mild compared to those of many other survivors, so I appreciate what I have done and how I think may not relate to many. I credit many others who have given me a lot of support along the way. I don't want to sound "up myself" with my achievements and I remember the exhaustion of making it through one hour at a time. I guess I am trying to highlight that stroke can be a chance to reinvent yourself through revisiting who you are, accepting help, resting as you need to, setting some realistic goals, and trying something new that works for your present situation. You may find something you really love that gives you a daily or weekly highlight. Like me, you may not get it right the first time (sorry tennis, swimming - both too tiring!). But keep trying and you will eventually find your gold mine.

Next year I will be fundraising for Stroke Foundation on the Great Wall Trek to raise at least $3000. I hope my training will have paid off by then!