John Power, a father of five from Portadown, suffered a stroke in March this year aged just 56. The former pub owner is now recovering and aiming to get back to work.
John recalls, “I can tell you exactly what happened when I had my stroke. At six minutes past four in the morning on the 23rd of March, I woke up and felt a bit strange. I tried to ask Google what time it was and I realised my speech was not coming out right. I live on my own, so I rang one of my sons and asked, ‘do I sound right?’. He said you sound like you’ve been drinking, which I hadn’t, so then I knew something definitely wasn’t right.”
“My former partner brought me into the hospital, and I can’t remember much after that - she had to fill me in. But I do know I got A star treatment from the NHS.”
“My speech, my memory and a wee bit of my eyesight were affected. I had no balance at all and couldn’t walk without falling over to the left side. My speech now is getting there but it’s still not 100%, and I also have a swallow problem. I would take a drink and cough for ages because it doesn’t go down right. I also suffer from fatigue. I can get up in the morning feeling great and sparky but then after going for a walk around the shop I feel exhausted. It also knocks your confidence – for the first two months after the stroke, I was scared every minute of the day of having another.”
John started attending the NICHS Craigavon PREP Group. “Just having somewhere to go where nobody is judging you and everybody is in the same boat is great. We do easy exercises that you can do at home, and seeing your ability increase gradually each week is brilliant. Now I walk around 2 miles most days.”
John also took part in the charity’s ‘Return to Work’ programme for those looking to get back into employment following a stroke or heart attack or a chest or heart diagnosis. “The comradery was great, and the course provided loads of information and introduced us to useful contacts, like Gareth who could give us advice on benefits. It was a brilliant programme.”
“The follow up support from NI Chest Heart and Stroke has been superb. They told me what to do and the changes I needed to make to my lifestyle to move forward. Now I’m trying to eat healthily, and be more active, I’ve stopped drinking soft drinks and alcohol, and I’m starting a stop smoking programme, all thanks to the advice of NICHS. Now I know the things I need to do to get back to normality when I’m ready.”
