Volunteers gave Billy his independence back

A DUNDEE man left unable to communicate after suffering a stroke has learned to express himself again through the power of technology.

Billy Mitchell was left with severe aphasia, meaning he had virtually no speech and relied mostly on gestures and facial expressions to communicate.

Living alone, the 66-year-old’s lack of speech left him isolated.

Worried for his future Billy’s family spoke to charity workers from Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland (CHSS).

As a result, he was appointed a volunteer and was introduced to an iPad.

Now, the tablet has given Billy a new lease of life.

Darlene Drummond, chest heart and stroke coordinator for Dundee Stroke Service, said: “CHSS allocated a volunteer called Christina, who worked with him on the computer every week until he could confidently switch it on, load up the software and find his way around the speech and language therapy (SLT) tasks. He was delighted he could do this for himself and didn’t need to rely on others.”

A year later, Billy’s family encouraged him to buy an iPad and CHSS allocated him another volunteer called George.

He set him up with Facebook, email, SLT exercises and games.

After three months, Billy could access all independently.

“Our volunteers are the lifeblood of the charity and can make a big difference to people’s quality of life — we couldn’t operate our services without them,” said Darlene.

To volunteer with CHSS or to find out more call 01382 775854 or email darlene.drummond@chss. org.uk these apps

Billy Mitchell uses his iPad to communicate after his stroke.