Turning to art after a stroke
JIMMY Murphy was busy working as a taxi driver in Sligo before he suffered a serious stroke aged 47 which left him in hospital for six months and a long road to recovery.
Instead of letting the stroke impede on his life, Jimmy has since become an artist and has already featured in a number of exhibitions with many more in the pipeline.
He told the Sligo Champion: “In June 2003, I was admitted to hospital with severe headache, then on the 15 th of June, Father’s Day, I had a massive stroke and spent the next six months in hospital.”
He was wheelchair bound for a couple of months and had to learn to use a walker and also needed help with speaking.
“I never really noticed the speech much but thankfully I don’t need any of those now.
“I spent six months between Sligo General, St John’s and also the Rehabilitation Centre in Dun Laoghaire.
“That’s what got me going. It’s a wonderful place.
“I was only 47 when the stroke happened and the funny thing I learned after was that my grandmother on my mother’s side died at 47 from the same thing.”
Jimmy said doctors told him high blood pressure may have been the cause and he’s on blood pressure medication since.
Jimmy was full of praise for the care he received in all three hospitals and the back up care when he left.
“It was a long road to recovery since I left hospital in December 2003 but the important thing I felt was to stay positive.
“Before I had the stroke, I was waiting for an MRI as I was getting headaches but they were putting it down to eyesight problems.
“Being a taxi driver, I was putting in a lot of hours. I was working for myself in the end and it was very long hours.” Although he was only 47, Jimmy said he’s aware strokes can happen at any age. “It’s happening to people of all ages. I met a young lad when I was in Dun Laoghaire and he was only 19 and after getting a stroke, so you just don’t know.”
He said he’s met a lot of friends over the course of his recovery. “I met a lot of friends in Dun Laoghaire especially.
“After I got out of hospital, I moved back shortly after to where I’m from in Charleville, Co Cork, and I started going to Headway in Limerick.
“They deal with people who have an acquired brain injury. They had various courses people like myself could do. At first I was introduced to computers but I didn’t really like that and then someone mentioned art.
“I thought art as being upper-class and the likes of your Monets, Picassos, that sort of thing!,” he laughed.
“They couldn’t teach me to draw or to blend colours, I would sit down and with a canvas and paint away whatever came into my head.
“I’ve noticed since I started the colours are changing, when I first started painting it was all black and white, whereas now the colours are blending and running into one another, I suppose my mindset is changing,” Jimmy added.
He said painting has given him so much since he suffered the stroke.
“I paint everyday, spending maybe four to five hours depending. I was very proud when I held my own exhibition here in Charleville.
“The old primary school I went to is now the theatre and my exhibition was held there so that was special.
“It was also the first anniversary of my mother’s death. I’ve been involved with more exhibitions with Headway too.
“People are buying them and my sons Gerard and Jamie are helping with the Facebook page as I’m no good with computers. People can look at some of the paintings there.
“I think they are going on a different path, there’s a lot more colours, hearts, it’s veering much more towards colour,” he added.
Jimmy said he never would have believed someone telling him he could be an artist until he started out.
“I didn’t know that if you couldn’t read or write that you would be good at art or vice versa, we had a lad with us that couldn’t write but when he tried art he was really good at it. It’s to do with the different part of the brain.”
Jimmy said art has brought him so much joy over the years.
“When I’m painting, I’ve nothing else on my mind. It’s a great way to relax and I really enjoy it.”
Jimmy’s Facebook page is called Stroke to the Brush and you can email him on jamesmurphy507@gmail.com.