What it's like to have a stroke

[Posted: Wed 18/11/2009]

Most people might think that stroke is something that only happens to elderly people.

This, however, is a misconception, as people can have a stroke at any age. Around 10,000 people have strokes in Ireland every year.

At the recent launch of the Irish Heart Foundation's Stroke Manifesto, aimed at effecting improvements  in Ireland's stroke services, 19-year-old Derbhla Connaughton, from Co. Kildare recounted her experience of having a stroke:

I had a stroke when I was just 17 - in my Leaving Cert year. The day I suffered a stroke I got out of bed with a panic because I had my French mock aural for the Leaving Cert. But I went to school and the day dragged out, as it usually did.

By lunchtime I didn't feel too great. I thought it was because I had eaten too much. Now, looking back, I see that my body was trying to warn me.

In the afternoon I had PE class, which was tough at the end of a long day. We had just finished doing step-ups and I felt OK. But then suddenly a sharp nauseating pain struck the right side of my head. It was unbearable and I didn't know what to do.

I tried to continue with PE but when I tried to pick up a basketball it was like trying to pick up a boulder. I thought bending down would help bit I couldn't do that either.

Then, the most horrifying thing happened. I couldn't hear, speak or make any sense of what was happening to me.

I felt like I was being buried alive. Everything went white with silence but I could still see everything around me.

The pain in my head was excruciating. I couldn't speak. Then I couldn't stand any longer. I dropped the ball and felt my legs go from beneath me, almost in slow motion. My friend caught me.

After that, everything is a blur. An ambulance was called and my mum was called. I didn't know what was happening to me. It was like I left my body and had no control. My left side went completely numb and I got a fit of shaking and throwing up.

I was brought to Naas Hospital on that Tuesday. They ran a lot of blood tests, x-rays, CT scans and a lumbar puncture because they thought I had a viral infection. I was later brought to Tallaght Hospital where they ran an MRI which confirmed I'd had a stroke.

A month later I was released after my stroke, I then had to engage in intensive physiotherapy to get my left side working again. it was tough. it was nearly a year later before I felt like myself again.

Now I have come to terms with my stroke and I have accepted it.

Read more about the Irish Heart Foundation's campaign for better stroke services here