EnableMe | enableme - stroke recovery and support

By Warren

Just before 8 am on May 2, 2019, I had a stroke.

I was home alone, preparing to leave for work and about to shower, when I felt my eye lids closing involuntarily.

I had seconds to think, “this is strange” before I blacked out.

About 10 minutes later, by my estimate, I heard a key in the door. My son, Arron had come by on his way to work.

I began to bang feebly on the wall of the bathroom. I was on the floor and could just raise my hand. Arron heard the thumping and found me on the floor. He recognised a possible stroke and called triple zero (000) immediately.

A short time later, an Ambulance arrived and did their first observations, then the Mobile Stroke Ambulance arrived.

I was loaded onto a stretcher and into the back of this specialised Stroke Ambulance, where a neurosurgeon and a stroke nurse carried out a CT scan, right there in front of my house with the traffic stopped. They discovered a clot and gave me clot busting drugs straight away.

Once I was ready, I was taken to Royal Melbourne Hosptial with all sirens blazing. I was given a second dose of clot busting drugs and then admitted to the RMH Stroke Unit.

All of this was completed within about an hour – the golden hour.

Laying in the ward, I was hit by an emotional tsunami. I was so damn grateful, and at the same time I was scared witless. My life could have ended today, I could still have another stroke, was I out of the woods?

I was paralysed on my lift side,I couldn’t get a spoon to my mouth, and I was having toileting accidents. What impact was this going to have on my wife, my children, and my students – on me?

Warren and his family frowning

As I have discovered, with the world-class treatment that I received, I was on my feet nine weeks later and able to give my daughter away at her wedding. Four years later my life is 95% back to what it was.

My family is whole because of the quick thinking of my son and the arrival of the Mobile Stroke Unit in my driveway.

I am thankful every day for being given my life back.

Thank you, Warren, for sharing your story to help raise funds for more Stroke Ambulances. We hope to see them in each Australian state and territory.

Well done Warren and especially to a stroke ambulance. Never heard of that before. Mate fell off his motorcycle two weeks ago and the nearest ambulance was nearly an hour away. Big difference between city and the bush!

col

Hey Col,

It sounds like you've been through it lately.

The StrokeLine team are a great resource if you have questions or need to be connected with services. The number is 1800 787 653.

You may be interested to know that Stroke Foundation are part of a research project to design a CT scanner, small and light enough for a plane.

How are you going?

Diana

Not trying to hijack Warren’s tread just been a rough few weeks.Westpac did land and doctors did an amazing job, there’s more to the story but I’ll keep that confidential. My own story seems to have plateaued, weakness and fatigue limiting my return to “ normal “ life. Trying not to be too depressed and fortunately I have wife, children and mates to help me out. Understanding my limits while hearing of others that seem to fully recover makes me try harder but not always with good results. Tomorrow is another day!

col