I WOULD HAVE DIED WITHOUT PIONEERING STROKE TREATMENT

A YOUNG MOTHER’S LIFE-SAVING OPERATION

REBECCA, 32, IS A FULL-TIME MOTHER.

SHE LIVES IN ILKESTON, DERBYSHIRE, WITH HER HUSBAND GAVIN, A COST CONSULTANT, AND THEIR CHILDREN, JOSHUA, EIGHT, LIAM, SIX, AND LIBBY, TWO. LAST NOVEMBER SHE HAD AN ACUTE ISCHAEMIC STROKE.

“I HAD JUST GOT MY DAUGHTER, LIBBY, UP FROM HER LUNCHTIME NAP WHEN IT HAPPENED. I WAS MAKING HER SOME TOAST AND WENT TO THE FRIDGE TO GET THE BUTTER AND MY LEGS STARTED TO GIVE WAY. I FELT I WAS ON A FERRY OUT AT SEA AND HAD TO GRAB THE FRIDGE TO STEADY MYSELF.

LIBBY LAUGHED, THINKING I WAS CLOWNING AROUND AND, STRANGELY, I DIDN’T FEEL FRIGHTENED. I THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY TOO AND KEPT THINKING, ‘WHY AM I BEING SO STUPID?’

FORTUNATELY AT THAT MOMENT, GAVIN’S PARENTS, GILL AND DON, ARRIVED. AS THEY CAME THROUGH THE FRONT DOOR, I STARTED TO SAY ‘HELLO’

AND COLLAPSED. I COULD HEAR EVERYTHING THAT WAS GOING ON – MY MOTHER-IN-LAW FIRST CALLING 999 AND THEN CALLING GAVIN AT WORK – BUT I COULDN’T SPEAK OR OPEN MY EYES, AND I WAS AWARE THE RIGHT SIDE OF MY FACE HAD DROPPED.

I WAS TOLD THE PARAMEDICS WERE THERE WITHIN 20 MINUTES. BY THE TIME I WAS LOADED ONTO A STRETCHER I WAS MORE RESPONSIVE AND ABLE TO SIT UP. I WAS TAKEN TO ROYAL DERBY HOSPITAL, 14 MILES AWAY, BUT STARTED DRIFTING IN AND OUT OF CONSCIOUSNESS AGAIN. A CT SCAN CONFIRMED A STROKE. I WAS GIVEN A TISSUE PLASMINOGEN ACTIVATOR (TPA), WHICH BREAKS DOWN AND DISPERSES

THE CLOT THAT’S STOPPING BLOOD REACHING THE BRAIN. BUT MY CLOT WAS SO BIG THAT IT DIDN’T WORK.

DOCTORS TRANSFERRED ME TO ROYAL STOKE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, WHERE I WAS RUSHED INTO THEATRE FOR A MECHANICAL THROMBECTOMY. SURGEONS MADE A SMALL INCISION IN MY GROIN AREA, THEN INSERTED A WIRE ATTACHED TO A CATHETER INTO AN ARTERY TO REMOVE THE CLOT FROM MY BRAIN. IT TOOK JUST 12 MINUTES. I HAD NO IDEA HOW TOUCH AND GO IT WAS, BUT GAVIN LATER TOLD ME HE WAS TERRIFIED HE WOULD LOSE ME.

THE OPERATION HAS TO BE DONE WITHIN SIX HOURS OF THE STROKE SYMPTOMS BEGINNING BECAUSE THE LONGER YOUR BRAIN IS STARVED OF OXYGEN, THE GREATER THE RISK OF PERMANENT DAMAGE.

WHEN I WOKE UP IN THE RECOVERY ROOM, I KNEW I’D HAD AN OPERATION BUT DIDN’T KNOW THE REASON. I FELT FINE, MY SPEECH WAS THE SAME, MY FACE WAS NORMAL AGAIN AND I WONDERED WHAT ALL THE FUSS WAS ABOUT. BACK ON THE WARD, GAVIN AND MY PARENTS HAD BEEN PREPARED FOR THE WORST – THAT MY BRAIN WOULD BE SERIOUSLY DAMAGED OR THAT I WOULDN’T PULL THROUGH. THEY WERE AMAZED AT HOW QUICKLY I’D RECOVERED. I WAS DISCHARGED AT 11AM THE NEXT DAY.

NOW, SIX MONTHS ON, THE ONLY LASTING EFFECT IS THE MUSCLE IN MY LOWER RIGHT EYE IS PARALYSED, SO I GET DOUBLE

VISION WHEN I LOOK AT THINGS CLOSE UP. I HAVE REGULAR HEART CHECKS AND TAKE WARFARIN, THE BLOOD-THINNING DRUG, WHICH I’LL NEED FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.

I’M YOUNG FOR A STROKE VICTIM, BUT I

WAS INCREDIBLY LUCKY. THE MECHANICAL THROMBECTOMY SAVED MY LIFE.” W&H