Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I woke from locked-in syndrome
Shaun one of only 15 to beat condition
A MAN has told of his joy at being one of only 15 people to ever recover from locked-in syndrome.
Shaun Wilde, 44, was in a vegetative state for three months after a blood clot in his brain stem caused a severe stroke.
Conscious but frozen, he communicated by blinking at a letter board.
But while 90% of sufferers die within four months, Shaun is now walking and talking – and has even returned to work as he continues his long recovery. He said: “I appreciate things people take for granted – walking, talking, the basic things you only notice when you can’t.
“Psychologically, you can be affected more than you realise.”
Shaun, of Ballabeg on the Isle of Man, became one of the 1% of stroke victims hit by locked-in syndrome in 2015.
He said of communicating with the letter board: “It was frustrating. You take it for granted, asking for things, saying things, taking part in conversation.”
After four months, he was moved to Liverpool’s Walton Centre, a specialist neurology hospital. Shaun said: “I started off not able to speak, then moving my toes and legs slightly.”
He had physio and speech therapy as mum Caroline supported him. Shaun said: “I started to put two or three words together and built on that. I had to learn to speak again.”
He finally went home in June 2016 and was back at work as an accountancy firm administrator in the October.
Shaun can still need a walking stick as his recovery goes on. But he added: “I wake up and think I’m glad I can move.”
ON HIS AMAZING RECOVERY