15/11/2023
Not everyone makes a full recovery after a stroke. The effects for Deya, who had a stroke at 28 in 2012, are still clear. One-sided weakness and limited mobility have resulted in Missed Milestones for the mum-of-two.
Deya had a stroke while at work, where she tried to convince herself that nothing was wrong, but when she tried to talk "my tongue was rolling and I was slurring my speech."
Deya tried to continue with work but a colleague, seeing how serious the situation was, rang 999 and an ambulance arrived soon after, “At that point in the ambulance I started thinking, ‘Oh my god, I’m still young.’ My husband and I wanted to start a family and I started thinking about how I hadn’t had a family yet and I’m too young to die.”
Thankfully, Deya survived her stroke and fell pregnant 2 years later. Her symptoms had always presented a challenge, but it was as a new mother of a baby boy that she struggled the most.
“When my son arrived, I used to avoid going to baby classes. I just felt very self-conscious because I was the only one with use of just one hand. When they did activities like lifting the babies up while singing songs, I couldn’t do that. It was quite heartbreaking and isolating.
“I managed to find ways to do most things, but the thing I didn’t really get to do with him was bathing him, especially when he was so little because you need two hands for that. I would step back, and my husband would do it. It really hurt me.”
Deya wants more survivors to speak about their experience “It’s good to speak out about what has happened. If you have a stroke at a young age, you are not on your own. There is life after stroke."
