"IT is devastating. You have to learn to swim rather than sink," says Liz Riddiough.

Liz's husband Keith was 42 when he suffered a stroke. Ironically, he was getting ready to visit his father in hospital when it happened, as Liz recalls.

"It happened completely out of the blue."

While a clear conclusion on what caused Keith's stroke hasn't been drawn, Liz says they were told he may have had a tear in his neck. Twenty years previously he had jarred his neck in a car accident.

However, what is evident is that a stroke can happen in an instant. It is a brain attack which happens when the blood supply to the brain is cut off, caused by a clot or bleeding in the brain.

More than 1.2 million people in the UK, like Keith, are living with the effects of stroke.

The former electrical engineer suffered speech and memory loss. It also affected his right hand side. He gained some of his speech but it has significantly affected his conversational skills.

Drawing on their own experience, he and Liz, from Shipley, were instrumental in setting up the Shipley Stroke Club in 1997.

Over the years the group, which meets from 9.30am until 2pm on Thursdays at Haworth Road Methodist Church, Bradford, helps stroke sufferers and their families around Bradford district.

While busy raising money through events, the group also relies on funding pots and donations. Sovereign Health Care and Yorkshire Building Society are among the supporters.

Lack of funding is a constant threat, yet groups such as this are becoming more imperative according to recent statistics from the Stroke Association which reveals the number of strokes occurring in men aged between 40 and 54 has rocketed by almost 50 per cent in less than 15 years.

Michael Speed, 70, from Frizinghall, volunteers with the charity to raise awareness, recalls his own experience.

Michael was 58 and working as a health and safety adviser on youth training for the Civil Service when he suffered what he believes was a mini-stroke, a precursor to his stroke which happened a few days later, after returning home from work. "I'd put my meal in the oven and was sat on the computer until my dinner had cooked when I felt pins and needles in my left side. For some reason I stood up and ended up chewing the carpet."

Michael had no feeling in his left leg or arm. He struggled to get back in his chair but recalls within half an hour was eating his dinner as though nothing had happened.

He went to work the following day but after the weekend, when travelling to work on the Monday, he couldn't coordinate his left leg with the gear change.

At the doctor's surgery Michael had already suspected he had suffered a stroke and spent the following three months in hospital. The lasting legacy is left side weakness but he is able to continue living independently.

An analysis of hospital admission data by the Stroke Association to mark Action on Stroke Month 2015, reveals that in 2000 there were more than 4,260 hospital admissions for stroke among men aged between 40 and 54 in England. This figure escalated to 6,221 in 2014 - an increase of 46 per cent. It is thought the rise is due to increasing sedentary and unhealthy lifestyles, and changes in hospital admission practice.

The number of women aged 40 to 54 admitted to hospital after a stroke in the last 15 years has also dramatically increased by almost a third. Overall the number of strokes occurring in people of working age (20 to 64) has risen by a quarter within the past 15 years.

Professor Anne Forster, who is involved in stroke rehabilitation research at the University of Leeds and Bradford Institute for Health Research considers the increase may be down to improved methods for recording diagnosis and recording patients who have suffered strokes.

She says the increased profile and awareness of the condition may also have had a bearing. "It is important stroke is seen as a medical emergency and that people are aware of FAST (Face, Arms, Speech, Time) and take immediate action," she says.

Jon Barrick, chief executive of the Stroke Association, says: "These figures show that stroke can no longer be seen as a disease of older people. There is an alarming increase in the numbers of people having a stroke in working age. This comes at a huge cost, not only to the individual, but also to their families and to health and social care services."

* He emphasises the need for more awareness of risk factors. For more information visit stroke.org.uk