“My wife and children watched me have a stroke right in front of them.”

My name is Tim. I am a father to two awesomes and husband to one beauty. And I’m a young stroke survivor.

My life changed forever

It was a summer’s day and I had picked my toddler son up from nursery and carried him home on my shoulders. It was such a nice day that I lit the barbecue so we could enjoy a family dinner outside that evening. Then everything changed. My wife and children watched me have a stroke right in front of them.

As we waited for the ambulance, not sure what was happening, I sat close to the children. I was scared and I was crying. It was the most terrifying moment of my life.

The third stroke was in hospital, and it was a massive stroke that nearly took my life. I was rushed into emergency surgery to have an operation on my brain to release the pressure on my skull. They had to take part of my skull away. The surgeon said I wasn’t expected to survive.

My Battle to recover

Thankfully I survived, but from that point on my battle to recover began. The stroke left me with left-sided paralysis. I couldn’t do anything for myself. Part of my head was missing, and I was a mess. Rebecca, my daughter, was three at the time. She is a real daddy’s girl but was frightened about coming to see me in case she didn’t recognise me.

When my wife Jen brought her in, Rebecca was very scared of me because of how I looked, eventually she reached for my hand. I can’t tell you much it meant to have her hold my hand. In a single moment I found so much strength and the drive to get better.

I was in hospital for three whole months. I had to learn everything again – how to swallow, how to sit, how to stand and eventually how to walk again.

My mind was affected, too. I struggled with my memory and my emotions, and I suffered from terrible stroke fatigue. I had gone from an active family man to someone who simply couldn’t do anything at all.

My progress was painfully slow, but the thought of fighting back for my family and getting home to them meant I wasn’t going to give up. After three months, I was so proud to be able to walk out of hospital with a stick and return home.

Fighting back for my family

But my recovery was only just beginning. And life was very different for us all. Jen became pretty much a single parent as well as my carer, but she has been amazing. Her love kept us all together as a family and I honestly am so blessed to have her by my side.

Although it was great to be home from hospital, the slow grind of painful physio and the dawning realisation of how much I had lost really hit home. It gradually wore down my usual optimistic outlook on life.

It was hard to accept that I had come so close to leaving my family and friends. But I didn’t. I survived. The time when you leave hospital can be the most lonely, isolating and difficult of times. That is when Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland come in. Because of you, we can be there to provide such special support and help when it is needed most.