Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I had two strokes at age 49 now I’m taking on running challenge
Ulster gran tells of trauma in a bid to raise awareness
WITH a love of roller coasters, horse riding and jumping off piers Paula Mckeever could be described as a “daredevil granny”.
But her life was turned upside down when she suffered two strokes in the space of three days at the age of 49.
Paula, a grandmother of two from West Belfast, thought her life was over as she faced a year off work recovering.
Inspired by grand-daughters Cora and Eva, she is fighting back and on February 25 she will take part in the Resolution Run in Belfast to raise money for the Stroke Association.
Paula said: “It was a Friday morning, I woke up fine but there was a tingle in the tips of my fingers and by 11am it was going up my arm. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
“I called the doctor and was told if I still had the symptoms at 3pm to go up [to hospital].”
When Paula got there scans and tests revealed nothing and she was told it could be migraine related and she was sent home.
But the next morning the mum of one woke up in the middle of suffering a stroke.
She said: “I could not see my phone, I could not get it and my two dogs were in bed beside me and barked, they knew there was something wrong.”
Paula managed to call her daughter Clare who asked a neighbour to go to her mum’s house.
She said: “I opened the door and I was hysterical. I was roaring and crying and she got the ambulance.”
Paula was sent to the Royal Victoria Hospital on the morning of February 20, 2016.
On the Tuesday she started to get power back in her hands and believed she was making progress.
But that night Paula noticed the tingling returning.
She said: “I went to the nurses station to say something was wrong and I took a massive stroke there.
“Staff said afterwards I was very lucky I had it there because they could act quickly, if not I could have been left disabled.”
But there was still a long road to recovery ahead for Paula who was facing a very different life to the “daredevil” one she was used to.
She said: “It was horrible afterwards, the worst thing I’ve been through. “Physically I looked OK but in my head I was falling apart.”
But Paula, who is now 51, said a lot of good came from the ordeal.
She said: “I do not smoke any more and I have not touched a spirit, I only take a beer.”
Now Paula is preparing for the big run and said: “I might not run it all but I will certainly finish it.
“I want to give back to help another family going through this.”
To support Paula visit www. justgiving.com/fundraising/
paula-mc-keever1.
WEST BELFAST YESTERDAY