Peter Connolly, from Dunshaughlin in Co. Meath, had been working for years in a stressful IT role, which saw him lead multiple teams and projects. In his latest role, he usually spent his day working long hours, sitting at his desk at home in front of three monitors.

Peter said: “I was mentally drained, and this had an impact on my ability to exercise, and it also had an impact to a degree on what I was taking in foodwise.”

On Friday, 18^th August 2023, Peter suffered a stroke. He recalls working on Thursday and having multiple demands and deadlines shared with him. He began work at 7am the next morning to help get through the workload, but by 11.30am, Peter said he felt very strange. “To me, it looked like the screen on the left had folded in across the middle screen, then pins and needles started in the sole of my foot. My whole focus went, and I started to get a migraine and lose my vision.

Thankfully, that day Peter’s wife Rachel was working from home. “She doesn’t usually work from home so normally I would have been on my own for 4 or 5 hours.”

Peter shouted over to his wife, and she knew something wasn’t right, but thought it may be a bad migraine. After lying down on the bed, some F.A.S.T. signs of stroke appeared – his face started to droop, and his speech was slurred. Rachel called the ambulance, and soon afterwards, a community first responder arrived, followed by the ambulance.

“The first responders were local and came incredibly quickly. They were brilliant.”

Peter recalled some details after his arrival to the hospital and the subsequent days. He said: “I have some vague memories of the medical team asking my name, address and date of birth over and over and over so that I would attempt to answer. And also explaining that I had two blockages in my brain, and they were going to administer a clot buster to me.

After a few days, the father of three was transferred from the emergency ward to the cardiology ward, where he continued to be monitored. On the 4^th day, the Consultant performed a test on Peter, which Peter passed and was told he could go home.

“I had mixed feelings about going home. There was no plan given, no communication, but I was given the mobile number of an advanced nurse practitioner on a piece of paper. I just know I sat in the house for up to 8 weeks, and my first thought when I was on my own was, I need a sudoku, a crossword or a puzzle so I can try and retrain my brain. The stroke had some temporary impacts for Peter, as he said: “I was living with a visual issue, where I was able to see in front of me but my peripheral vision was like having two movies playing at the same time, and like looking through a tunnel all the time.”

“Rachel described me as being like a jenga tower, and the stroke just knocked the tower over. The mess that has been made of my brain is crazy. I’m still trying to discover who I am.”

When speaking with the occupational therapist, Peter said he broke down. More recently when writing about what happened to him, he broke down again. He feels like he might be dealing with it better now. “I was a mess, and I broke down, with no control. The 8 weeks after experiencing the stroke were very harrowing mentally. I thought to myself, ‘Am I for the scrap heap now?’. It took six to eight months before I could even walk back into the room where I had the stroke. It really had a negative impact on me.

Peter, a father of three and now aged 58, has been persistent in both helping himself and using supports to help him recover. These include swimming and walking, which have, in turn, helped Peter lose weight and improve his sleep apnoea.

“I always enjoyed running while growing up, but then I got out of that habit with family life and work. Now, I have been building up my swimming, and I swim up to a kilometre every day. I also speedwalk between 5km and 10km every day. I don’t smoke and have reduced my alcohol intake.”

After experiencing a stroke, Peter began searching online for information on stroke, and he came across the Irish Heart Foundation. He joined the Young Stroke Survivors Network, where he meets other young stroke survivors, participates in a gym class and meets socially with them. He said, “I see people who have been physically affected by stroke, and I feel they were impacted more than me, but they still have a light in their eyes and are still living.”

Peter has completed several Irish Heart Foundation courses, including 2 different ‘Return to Work’ courses, ‘ACT course’, ‘Fatigue course’ and has used the Stroke Connect Service and the Nurse Support Line.

“I’m also an Irish Heart Foundation Patient Champion, as I’d like to give back, raise awareness of the instances of cardiovascular disease in the community, and raise issues with my local politicians to help others. As well as this, I volunteer with the Irish Heart Foundation to give direct patient feedback on content, the website, documents, or updates.

Peter joined the Irish Heart Foundation’s Rhythm of Recovery Choir, which is made up of stroke survivors and heart patients and, as well as taking part in the choir practice, has performed at multiple events, including conferences and Culture Night and given solo performances.

“Singing is something I can do, I feel like I can achieve something when I sing. It’s good for self-validation and my confidence. I really enjoy it and received a gift of singing lessons for Christmas. The benefits of the choir are huge for me. The choir has members from all over the country, and it is a very welcoming group. The strength and support these people give is amazing, and we help each other move forward.

“I would recommend the Irish Heart Foundation, especially to people who have experienced a stroke, to avail of the supports and to make new connections.”

Peter hasn’t yet returned to work as he said he is mentally unable to cope with the level of stress he earlier experienced in his job. “I am looking to understand what I can tolerate from a work perspective. I imagine myself in different positions, and I can’t get through them.” He is helping his wife at home with admin and is doing tasks he can tolerate while getting used to the laptop again.

“Sometimes, when I have multiple things to do and try to, it’s like I can’t handle the three things together in my head. I find reading still to be a challenge. My memory and concentration has definitely disimproved notably and even after this time, fatigue is still a problem for me, although with the Irish Heart Foundation course, I manage it a bit better”.