STROKES can happen to anyone, not just the elderly – that’s the message from Studley mum Tania Underwood.
The mum of two suffered her stroke last October – at the age of just 40.
“I’ll never forget the date, October 14.
“I woke up in the morning and it was textbook one-side paralysis – I knew immediately what it was,” she said.
“I tried to get up but couldn’t walk.
“My daughter got me my phone and I called for an ambulance and Studley First Responders were there in an instant and took me to Worcester.
Thumbs up: Stroke survivor Tania Underwood.
“To learn I’d had a stroke was a massive shock – I was a fit, healthy mother of two and it’s not what you expect – people think it’s an old person’s illness, but it’s not.”
A stroke occurs when the blood supply to the brain is cut off. This can be caused by a clot in a blood vessel or bleeding in, or around, the brain.
Tuesday this week was World Stroke Day and the theme of the campaign has been just that – strokes can happen to anyone, not just the elderly.
“For me it had come out of the blue – I was physically fit, my blood pressure was good and so was my cholesterol level.
“After a lot of investigations they put it down to an underlying medical condition, a hole in my heart.
“That’s in my case, but young people still do get strokes.”
Support came from her husband Andrew, a sports therapist, who for the first six months ‘did everything’.
“I just could not function at all but luckily I had him,” she said.
Now, although physically back to normal, Tania sometimes still has issues getting her thoughts into gear.
“I still get cognitive problems – the brain fog descends on me,” said the former Jaguar Land Rover worker.
However she’s managed to bounce back: Born in Germany she’s now set up her own business as a language teacher of German and Spanish and writes her own blog on coping with a stroke (@mummyhadastroke) and an instagram page (@tania_underwood).
Tania also recommends Different Strokes (https://differentstrokes.co.uk/) a charity dedicated to helping younger people recover from a stroke.
Think FAST if you think someone has had a stroke:
F – facial drooping
A – arm weakness
S – speech disturbance
T – time, if you find any of these signs it’s time to call 999
