Chris Boyd and Mark Oliver, from Belfast, have been busy clocking up the miles over recent months in training for a ‘Walk the Country’ fundraiser which will see them walk over 400 miles across Northern Ireland. The pair have taken on this gruelling challenge to raise vital funds for leading local health charity, Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke (NICHS), and the Stroke Association NI. What makes the challenge even more amazing is the fact that both friends have had life-changing strokes in the last 15 months - at just 43 and 45 years old.
Chris explains; “I had my stroke on the 25th of October 2023 and the effects were severe. I went from working as an electrician and DJ to having to learn to walk and talk again at 43 years old. I still haven’t been able to return to work as an electrician due to the vision issues I have been left with. Life as I knew it went out the window when I had my stroke.”
“I have had two kidney transplants and have been told my stroke was most likely due to long term dialysis which calcified arteries, however the lifestyle I was leading didn’t help either. I was doing too much work wise- 5 days a week as an electrician plus 3 days as a DJ. I didn’t realise it was working me into a box. I was shattered all the time, eating poorly, and drinking lots of energy drinks to keep going. I had just done my first day of an eleven-day event at Halloween and that night I had my stroke. Everything just stopped.”
“I had physical side effects from my stroke. I am lefthanded and that side was worst affected and is now my weaker side. My left arm has constant pins and needles from my shoulder to my fingertips. I can grip and lift things, but I can’t feel things like I used to. The mental impact of the stroke has also been massive. I was very down, to the point I didn’t feel able to do anything really. Then my friend Sonia phoned and told me her partner, Mark, had also had a stroke and was eager to get out and start exercising again to help his recovery and would I like to join him. That was the best call I have ever had. Right away I said yes as I needed to do something to help me start moving on.”
Recalling his stroke Mark says; “I had my stroke in July at just 45 years old. It was a big shock as I have always been very fit and healthy and have never had any issues. When I had my stroke, it went on for about 40 minutes which was extremely scary, but I was lucky in that I had it at home and my partner, Sonia, was here. She has some medical training, so I was very fortunate that way.”
“I was taken to hospital, but once I came out of the stroke, I had made a full recovery. I think that was probably due to the years of fitness I had behind me. The doctors only realised it was a stroke after a CT scan because of the fact I recovered immediately. I had a tear in an artery which was the cause of the stroke. I was kept in hospital for a few days and prescribed medications. I was very lucky, but everything was turned upside down.”
“I didn’t have any physical side effects, but the mental impact was hard for me. I was left with bad vertigo after my stroke. I felt really dizzy before my stroke happened, so every time the vertigo started, I thought I was having another stroke which was scary and that took its toll on me. Also, I was conscious throughout my stroke which has left me with trauma.”
Mark continues; “For the first three to four weeks I couldn’t really do anything. Your body feels like it has been in a car crash. Once I was able to, I started getting out walking. From the first walk I had this idea of not letting the stroke define me. I didn’t know what the future held, how things would turn out, if there could be another tear in my arteries, but I wasn’t giving up. I wanted to do something positive from it all. I mentioned this to Sonia, and she told me about Chris. I asked her to reach out to him to see if he wanted to come walking with me as I knew what he was going through and how having a stroke can be a bit of a lonely experience. The people around you are so supportive, but they can’t fully understand what is going on in your head and the questions you have like, ‘is this going to happen again?’, or ‘is this my time up?’ My idea was Chris and I could talk and bounce off each other, because I was sure he was in the same boat as me.”
The pair went for their first walk in August and immediately clicked. After the second outing the idea of a fundraising walk around Northern Ireland came up as Chris recalls; “Mark mentioned the idea of the walk and at first, I wasn’t sure, it was so early on my fitness journey. After a few weeks however I could see I was getting fitter and thought there was a chance I could do it, so I was onboard.”
“We decided on Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke (NICHS) and the Stroke Association NI as the charities we want to try and help through the fundraiser. After my stroke, I attended NICHS’s Post Rehab Exercise Programme (PREP) at Lisnasharragh Leisure Centre to try and help with the physical rehab side of things. PREP is a physiotherapy led, community-based course which focuses on exercise and education, and I found it helpful. We want to do what we can to help make sure this, and other services, are available to all the stroke survivors who need them.”
Talking about the fundraising walk Mark explains; “We will be starting the walk on Saturday 14th of June at Belfast City Hall and are planning a circle of Northern Ireland which will take us mainly along the coast, finishing at Stormont 14 days, and 400 odd miles, later.”
“We have been doing a lot of training. We started off trying a walk of about 17 miles and after that we both knew we had it in us to do this challenge. We have completed a 25 mile walk from Belfast to Ballykilner. We will move on to doing a few 25-mile walks back-to-back and will keep building things up. The week before the event we will do three or four 30-mile walks in a row.”
“At the moment we are focussing on training, building strength and conditioning so we don't get injured during the challenge itself, which will be around 30 miles per day for 14 days. That would be intense for anyone, never mind having had a stroke, but it's a challenge we want to do for ourselves, as well as to raise funds for the charities and get the message about stroke awareness out. We know it will be hard, but we are determined to do it! Mindset will play a big part, and we have that fighting spirit.”
“Stroke can affect anybody at any age, and we want to highlight that. We want to help dispel the myth that stroke is something that only affects older people. We also want to make people think about whether there is something in their lifestyle they could change, like diet and exercise, to help reduce their risk of stroke as much as possible.”
Chris adds; “Stroke, and in particular stroke at a young age, isn’t talked about enough. We are sharing our stories to show stroke can affect anyone at any stage of life. Also, at no matter what age you have a stroke, the mental impact is huge. Our main aim is to let people know stroke doesn’t have to be the end of your life. It can be a huge wakeup call, however. You might have to make some lifestyle changes, but small, positive changes all count, like taking up walking. It gets you out and speaking to people too, like neighbours and that helps mentally as well. I felt so much better once I started the walking and chatting with Mark, it made my mental outlook turn from negative to positive. There have been so many positive changes from this challenge for me and Mark was the trigger for those changes.”
Mark continues; “We want to bring some hope and inspiration to people. Maybe people who have just had a stroke, who are at the early stages of their recovery and aren’t sure what the future holds. This will hopefully help them see it’s not necessarily the end of everything as it was before, and they can try to fight back to better health and fitness and to the life like they had prior to stroke. That’s one of our main motivations.”
Chris concludes; “We will be celebrating all stroke survivors and their recoveries in every city, town and village we go through. This walk is for all stroke survivors in Northern Ireland, and we hope people will really get behind us and support us on our journey.”
Gavin Adams, Director of Income Generation at Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke says; “We are so grateful to Chris and Mark for sharing their stories and taking on this amazing challenge in support of our charity. The effort and dedication shown by them both is nothing short of phenomenal, given everything they have been through.”
“People may be surprised to learn that 50% of stroke survivors in Northern Ireland are under 75. As Chris and Mark’s stories show, the impact of stroke can be devastating - but NICHS is here to help with expert care and support. The help available from our Care Services team is extensive and available all across Northern Ireland. Alongside our Post Rehab Exercise Programme which Chris attended, we offer family support, health education programmes, Wellness Sessions, and emotional support. But we rely on the public’s generous support to do all this.”
“Almost 90% of our income comes from public donations so fundraising efforts like Chris and Mark’s are vital for our charity and for enabling us to continue to support the local community and provide life-changing services.”
“We will be cheering Chris and Mark on every step of the way of their incredible challenge and wish them all the very best.”
If you would like to donate to Chris and Mark’s fundraiser, you can do so at https://gofund.me/7741e34f
To find out more about NICHS’s stroke support services, visit nichs.org.uk/strokesupport
