"“My name is Ashley, I’m 24 years old and seven years ago whilst on a driving lesson I had a stroke. I had just turned 17 and was excited to get started with driving, but at the same time I remember getting extremely nervous and stressed before each lesson. When it happened I was actually driving the car and I can remember my whole left side and particularly my left arm and hand going cold and numb all of a sudden. Straight away I leant over to turn off the air con in the car as I thought this was the problem, but by then I had lost the whole left side of my body and my hand just flopped off the steering wheel, feeling very heavy and extremely strange. After the instructor stopped the car we both knew something wasn’t right so he instantly dropped me back home.
When I got back home, the first thing I said to my mum was “I’m having a stroke!”, I then proceeded to drink a glass of water, all of which fell out the side of my mouth. We then rushed to the local Walk In Centre, where they somehow diagnosed that I was having a migraine. Luckily when leaving I was violently sick everywhere, so we went straight to Leicester Royal Infirmary, and then later taken to Nottingham QMC Stroke Ward.
I spent around two weeks in hospital and whilst there I saw the devastating effect stroke can have, not just with the individual but also the family and friends associated. After spending time in hospital I went for Stereotatic Radiosurgery I was told to completely cure me and set me on the path to recovery.
Since leaving hospital to start my recovery, it has been a long hard journey, but I have been so determined and motivated to never give up and not feel sorry for myself and try to get back as well as I can to normality. Luckily I was so young when my stroke happened, it allowed me to recover a lot better than many older individuals. I continued in my recovery to do plenty of ‘physio’ exercises such as picking up things from the floor and using my affected side as much as possible. In fact I was pretty much forced to by my family, and I couldn’t have got to where I am now without them. So, slowly and little by little I regained function in the years post stroke, to the point I am at now where I only have slight weakness/numbness in my left fingertips and an ache/pain in my left side, and I am so happy and grateful to get off so lightly compared to others.
I have been so dedicated since recovering from my stroke to give back, and use my able bodied-ness to help others in a worse position than me. I’ve done a few fundraising events to raise money and also been to help others at my local different strokes group. Also a few big moments for me since recovering have been that I have been to university and completed a degree in a course that I love, and also (one of the biggest moments in my life) I revisited driving lessons after having a psychological fear of it for nearly six years. I passed both the theory and practical tests first time and have now been driving for over a year. Now in the next few months I have planned to do the Stroke Resolution Run, Tough Mudder and a Triathlon.
This experience has made me a stronger and better person, and the whole time I have wanted to show that stroke can be beaten and to never give up and not feel sorry for yourself, because you can achieve anything you want if you put your mind to it. I hope my story can show others that you can get through it if you really want to. We are all in this together. NEVER GIVE UP!”
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