Originally from Oldham in the UK, Michael (58) suffered a stroke alone in his home in Longford last year.
Michael recalls getting ready to shower on the morning of his stroke in June 2022 when he began to feel “a bit strange” before falling to the floor.
Michael, who was living on his own at the time, soon realised he had no feeling in the left side of his body. Thankfully, it didn’t take him long to identify that he was experiencing the signs of stroke.
“I couldn’t hear out of my left ear, my right eye went funny, the right side of my mouth was drooping – all the usual stroke signs. I knew immediately what was happening – that it was a stroke”.
“I couldn’t hear out of my left ear, my right eye went funny, the right side of my mouth was drooping – all the usual stroke signs. I knew immediately what was happening - that it was a stroke”.
“I couldn’t hear out of my left ear, my right eye went funny, the right side of my mouth was drooping – all the usual stroke signs. I knew immediately what was happening – that it was a stroke”.
Michael immediately called 112 to get through to the emergency services. Luckily for him, an ambulance was passing near his house at the time of his stroke, a coincidence that meant that he was taken to hospital without delay.
Michael remembers dragging himself to the door to let the paramedics in and being taken to Mullingar Hospital in the ambulance. The rest of his memory from that day is hazy.
As Michael began to recover, he recalls being reassured by a doctor that they would get him as well as possible before he could leave the hospital. Michael assumed this would be no more than two to four weeks. He never could have imagined that his stay in hospital and rehabilitation would be as long as seven months (from the 11th June to the 4th January).
Michael is grateful for the quality of care he received from the staff in both Mullingar Hospital and Peamount Hospital, where he completed his cardiac rehabilitation; “I couldn’t praise the staff enough, from the cleaning staff to the nurses to the consultants – everyone was fantastic.”
On the 4th January, Michael left rehabilitation “not 100% better, but a lot better”. At the time of his discharge, Michael still had no feeling in his arm and his speech was not yet completely restored.
Initially, Michael found that he was unsure about what his next steps should be. However, he continued with his rehabilitation and said that he found himself busier than he had ever been in his life – seeing people, keeping on top of his exercises and participating in online classes.
Michael used the Irish Heart Foundation’s Stroke Support Services in his recovery and particularly valued the peer support from other stroke survivors who had been through similar journeys.
When asked what advice he would give to other stroke survivors, Michael shared words of encouragement; “Don’t give up. We all have down days and when you have a stroke, these down days are even worse. If you can’t do your rehabilitation today, you WILL be able to do it tomorrow. Set goals. Let the professionals guide you. They aren’t pushing you for their own benefit, they are pushing you so you get better. People tend to forget that.”
