Stroke survivor aged 46 makes amazing recovery
FITNESS FANATIC WHO COLLAPSED ON OBSTACLE COURSE IS RUNNING AGAIN
A FITNESS fanatic has made an incredible recovery after suffering a stoke at just 46.
Tracy Hughes collapsed near the end of a gruelling obstacle run last October.
She was with friends from her British Military Fitness (BMF) class, battling her way through mud on a tough course in Leeds.
Tracy’s pals raced to help and she was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary where she was joined by husband Rick.
She was given thrombolysis to break down the blood clot before being transferred to the stroke unit at Fairfield Hospital in Bury for further tests.
Tracy was later allowed home, where her rehab continued.
She did The Royal British Legion’s 5k Poppy Run at Heaton Park in her wheelchair a month after her stroke – and stood up at the end to walk over the finish line.
Now, six months later, Tracy is on a phased return to work and has done four running sessions with her BMF friends.
She said: “I was determined to get back to classes because I really missed the friends I had made there.
“BMF Heaton Park manager Graham O’Brien is brilliant. He has always been very encouraging.
“But he has told he told me, ‘don’t be coming back and doing 20 sessions a week now.’”
Tracy said she felt fine before her stroke, and regularly attended BMF classes at Heaton Park and in Bolton.
Speaking about the moment she collapsed, she said: “The on-site ambulance came over and when I started to slur my words and they saw I couldn’t lift my arm or leg, I knew I was having a stroke.
“It was scary because they said ‘fast positive.’ I work in auditing for the ambulance service and one of the things we look into is strokes, so I knew the terminology.
“I was so lucky that I was seen within the four-hour window that’s crucial to treating strokes. My stroke was just out of the blue. My blood pressure was fine. The only thing that could have contributed to it was stress levels.
“My doctors and physio said I have made such a good, speedy recovery because I am fit.”
BMF manager at Heaton Park Graham said: “Tracy was in a bad way. She couldn’t move or speak and was just looking up at us. She doesn’t remember me and Rick getting in the ambulance with her at all.”