Stroke survivor who re-learned to walk and talk set to run first 10k race

JUST two years on from suffering an Ischemic Stroke which resulted in a loss of function along the right side of her body as well as losing the ability to even speak, Tralee’s Nicola McCarthy – through sheer determination and will – will run her first ever official 10k race this coming May Bank Holiday weekend.

It’s an incredible feat for the young woman who, during her 10 month stay in various hospitals around the country, had to learn to both walk and talk all over again, limited some days to just taking two steps before becoming exhausted during her rehabilitation period.

Now back in full time work again and training for the Great Limerick Run 6 Mile (10k) event which takes place on Saturday, May 4, Nicola spoke to The Kerryman this week about suffering the stroke and “the most terrifying experience” and “bad dream” that she couldn’t wake up from that followed.

It was near the end of April, 2022 when Nicola’s life completely changed. She had just arrived back from a week-long trip to Abu Dhabi with her boyfriend where they had been visiting friends when soon after landing, she began to feel a large amount of pain in her leg.

Not thinking too much of this, Nicola, who at the time was training for a half-marathon that was fast approaching, went out and ran 19km. It was on this run though Nicola said that she said that she knew something was off, that she felt “really sick, like really awful” on the run.

After going to the doctors, Nicola was given an injection of painkillers as well as an injection for vomiting to help stop her now near constant throwing up. With her boyfriend working nights, Nicola went to bed early and that’s when her life as she knew it changed completely.

“The pain I was in, I couldn’t cope so I went to bed early by myself and then 10pm, I felt something weird happen and decided that I needed to call Andrew [her boyfriend]. So, I got up out of bed and I just collapsed straight onto the floor,” she said.

Thankfully her house-mate heard the noise and helped Nicola up and after discovering that she now could not speak or move her right hand side, an ambulance was called and she was brought to University Hospital Limerick. Here it was discovered that Nicola had a blood clot in her brain.

After emergency keyhole surgery in CUH to remove the clot, Nicola was then put into a three-day induced coma and while she was thankfully out of any immediate danger, her road to recovery was only just beginning.

“When I woke up from the coma, I couldn’t speak or move my arms or legs. It was the most terrifying experience ever. I thought it was a bad dream and I kept trying to wake up from it,” she said.

Possessed with a steel will though, Nicola told herself that she was not going to let this beat her.

“Every single day after that was a battle. I kept saying to myself that I was going to get my speech back, I’m going to get back walking,” she said, adding that she is so grateful to the workers in the National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) as well as the staff in St Ita’s Community Hospital in Newcastle West for literally getting her back on her feet.

“It was unbelievable the stuff that they got me doing. They got me walking again, they got me talking again, they got me doing everything. For example, they would tell me ‘this is a cat’ and then they would ask me to repeat what it was so I had to repeat ‘cat’ back to them and then again, with the word ‘dog’. Every single thing that I’m able to say to you today is because they taught me how to do it,” she said.

“With the walking then, I wasn’t able to move my right leg and then when I did start to use it again, they would tell me that I could walk maybe two paces one day, three paces another day and then four paces the day after. It was a very slow and steady process. I do still have some problems with my walking and that’s all to do with the fact that the right hand side of my body, while it’s coming back, it’s not fully there yet,” she added.

While Nicola credits her own recovery to her “sheer determination”, it’s a local group here in Tralee, the Born to Run Marathon Club, that she is eternally grateful to for getting her back out on the road running.

“I contacted Born to Run and they said that they had their ‘Couch to 5k’ programme coming up and they told me to come along to it. I did the programme and when I finished the 5k at the end of it, I literally just started crying.”

On the upcoming 10k, Nicola said she is looking forward to the “mighty challenge” that it will entail and is determined that all the money raised from her GoFundMe page - it currently sits at €4,515 at the time of writing – will go to St Ita’s Hospital in Newcastle West.

“I want all my proceeds, every single bit of the money raised, to go to St Ita’s Hospital. Without them, I would not be the person I am today.”

To donate to Nicola’s fundraiser, head to the link in the online version of this article on The Kerryman’s website.

“Every single day after that was a battle. I kept saying to myself that I was going to get my speech back, I’m going to get back walking...”