Raymond Lavery from Magheralin, who previously worked as a taxi driver, was 57 when he had a stroke. He lost power in his left side and was in hospital for around five days. After attending the NICHS PREP programme, he now volunteers his time at the group to support others through the process.
Raymond says, “One of the physiotherapists recommended I get support from NI Chest Heart and Stroke. Shortly after Lynn, the local NICHS co-ordinator, came out to house to speak to me about my stroke. She told me there was a PREP group coming up soon, so I went along. I was a bit nervous at the first one, but once I went, it was great. The NICHS team give you so much encouragement. The exercises we do, even though they’re simple, they do bring you on greatly. During the 12 weeks, you could see a massive improvement in others in the group, not only physically but in their confidence, too. The kindness of the people in the group, not just the staff but the others attending the group, was amazing. You would say I have this pain or this effect, and others would say they’ve experienced the same thing, so it was great for finding out you’re not on your own.”
“We also have a talk each week where we are taught about what a stroke is, about different topics like health, fatigue, and life after stroke. When you’ve never had a stroke before, you don’t know anything about how it affects you or how it works so it was extremely helpful and very interesting. I would recommend PREP to everyone affected by a stroke.”
Cecil Wiltshire, Physiotherapist Rita and Raymond
