My friend saved my life when I stopped making sense on the phone

Three months after the birth of my second child, I was alone at home with my three -month -old son, talking about him phone To my best friend, Melanie.

Since we joined at work as administrators in the NHS for our love for all things. Disney and a shared obsession with the film Beetlejuice Three years before, we become inseparable.

We often talk on the phone for hours, so that July 2019 seemed different. That is, until I could not get my words.

Mel said that my speech was dragged and that, suddenly, it made no sense. She knew immediately that it was an emergency.

Mel had a close relative who had had a stroke Approximately five years before, knowing that confusing discourse as mine was one of the signs, I knew I had to act quickly.

Mel immediately contacted my mother (who lived nearby), which meant that it came to me in six minutes.

However, when I arrived, my entrance door was closed. Without another option, because my partner was not close, and I was escaping every minute, then called 999.

Police and ambulance services arrived and broke the glass at the door of my house so they could reach me. At that time I had dead and unconscious weight.

The next thing I remember is to wake up at Stroke Ward at the University College London Hospital in what was my 24th birthday.

When I said that the doctor told me what happened: I had a stroke.

Apparently he had entered into cardiac arrest In the ambulance, and then again when we arrive at the hospital. Frankly, I was lucky to be alive.

My first thought was from my children, but Mel had arranged that my sister took care of my son and my daughter stayed with a friend. She saved them from being alone for what could have been a whole weekend.

Then the reality of what had just happened hit me, however, I simply refused to believe it.

Having worked in a hospital for so long, I thought I knew what a stroke was like; In my mind, I couldn’t have had one. I thought for myself: ‘I am too young. Everyone else in the line of strokes are in their 70s and 80s!

Of course, it was explained in detail that a stroke can happen to any of any age.

In my case, doctors felt that the most likely reason was due to something called foramen ovale (PFO), a small hole in the heart that exists in all before birth and closes shortly after birth.

I understood but I still couldn’t believe it. I had been walking, speaking, laughing and doing all my usual things to the blow. What could have changed?

Fortunately, I recovered well and, anxious to get home with my baby, I was discharged from the hospital two days after the stroke.

They informed me about the medication in which I would be now, anticoagulants to prevent clots, and my upcoming hospital appointments, including something called Bubble Eco Study.

Also known as bubble contrast echocardiogram, the test is essentially an ultrasound combined with an injection of microburbujas to evaluate the structure and function of the heart. And, as a result, I had a PFO.

Suddenly, many things in my life made sense. Throughout my life I had continuously complained about chest pains, I had countless ECG and exams, and only a few months before stroke told me that I had an irregular beat.

Now we knew what the problem was, we could solve it. Meanwhile, I had to learn to deal with the subsequent effects of me stroke.

Three months after they discharged me, I lost my sense of taste. Then I developed weakness on the left side, which made it difficult to walk, as well as pain and fatigue.

Three months after they discharged me, I lost my sense of taste. Then I developed weakness on my left side

My memory was also severely affected, I kept forgetting the exercises that my physio gave me, or I would put food to cook and forget it, so I would burn me, but I was determined not to let me defeated me.

Six months after my stroke, I returned to my work (which, in retrospect, was too soon) and tried to keep up with the demands of taking care of my health, family and other commitments as if nothing had changed.

Of course, he had done a lot.

Moving from a completely mobile, athletic and energetic mother to fight with fatigue and do my usual daily activities was an important change and did not know how to balance everything.

Fortunately, both my family and Mel were extremely supportive, Mel was someone to support me, sometimes literally, without judging, and I also found different blows.

They support the survivors of stroke in working age by offering support in peers, providing a variety of services to help them and their families to recover their lives, and a Facebook group where survivors can share their ups and downs, as well as obtain support and advice.

Sharing my history to your community of 8,000 solids, I received such a warm response and surprising support from other young stroke survivors. I realized that I wasn’t alone.

In fact, with his help, I also recognized that I had been too focused on returning to work and needed to return my focus on my physical recovery.

During the last year, I have been working on my health: I go to the gym three days a week and do exercises such as hip kidnappings and strengthening of my hands. I also make 30 -minute walks on the running tape, and everything has made a big difference.

Last summer I could even take my children to Thorpe Park and Kew Gardens, and recently we went to London Eye and Shrek World.

These activities would have been impossible a few years ago, since it was not physically sufficiently strong enough. But now I’m getting there.

However, as proud as I am in my progress, I still want to raise awareness, especially because black and Asian people have twice as probabilities of suffering a stroke already often have strokes at an earlier age.

That is why I am now a volunteer in the Black and Asian stroke accident survivors project, to encourage people to raise their own medical concerns with their head doctor.

I had chest pains for years, who had mentioned doctors, but I never received the attention I should have even my stroke.

I am lucky that my PFO has been solved, but if it had been detected before and closed, it would probably not have a stroke first. All of us, doctors and the general public, we must do more to be aware of the stroke.

I’m just here thanks to Mel’s fast thought. Without her, I could have been dead. There is no sugary that. She saved my life and I am grateful for that every day.

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