Globally, it is the third biggest killer condition.

Many people will associate a stroke with a heart attack – it is the ‘brain equivalent’ of one – yet despite the information and advice from the groups and organisations promoting awareness of strokes, many of us remain unaware of what it actually is.

This is why it’s important that sufferers like Mick Speed are sharing their experiences as the group Stroke Survivors.

Mick wasn’t doing anything strenuous. He wasn’t working out in the gym or getting stressed behind a desk. He was on his computer, whiling away the time his dinner was taking to cook, when he suddenly lost movement in his left arm. “For some reason I stood up and ‘measured my length’ on the carpet,” he recalls.

When he finally came round, he managed to get back on his chair. “The oven ‘pinged’ and I got up and ate my dinner as though nothing had happened.”

The following day, Mick left his Bradford home to go to his job in the city as a health and safety adviser, as normal, but four days later he had difficulty co-ordinating his leg and arm while driving, prompting him to seek medical advice. The doctor told him he had to go to hospital immediately. He spent the following three months recovering in Bradford Royal Infirmary.

Mick discovered the initial loss of movement in his arm was a Transient Ischaemic Attack – TIA – which causes similar symptoms to a stroke. The most common cause is a tiny blood clot.

“What often happens, as I understand it, is with a TIA you usually recover within an hour, but it’s a warning sign and I didn’t realise it was a warning sign,” explains Mick.

Every year an estimated 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke. Of those, about a third are likely to die within the first ten days; a third are likely to make a recovery within one month and a third are likely to be left disabled and needing rehabilitation.

A stroke has a greater disability impact than any other medical condition. About 250,000 people are living with long-term disability as a result of stroke in the UK.

Mick is one of the lucky ones. His only lasting legacy of the condition is weakness in his left arm. It has curtailed his career and he was unable to pursue cycling and walking – past times he intended taking up when he retired – but he still loves bird watching, an interest he’s had from boyhood, although his left arm tires when holding his binoculars.

He says he has plenty of things to occupy his time and has found great satisfaction channelling what energy he does have into something worthwhile – improving stroke care for other survivors.

Mick was introduced to the stroke pressure group he now chairs while recovering in hospital. Pursuing Excellence In Stroke was launched as a Government initiative in 2003 to improve treatment for stroke patients.

When that finished after two years, the members decided to continue as an independent group with support from the local Primary Care Trust and Social Services.

The name has changed to Promoting Excellence In Stroke (Bradford and Airedale), but the ethic remains the same – “to pressure the powers that be to provide decent stroke services in the area.”

“The aim of the group is to promote the well being of people affected by stroke by identifying the needs and meeting the implementation through consultation with professional bodies,” says Mick.

‘Tell it as it is’ is a round-the-table discussion updating stroke survivors and their carers on things they need to know and seeking their views on the performance of stroke care in the area.

The group participated in the consultation exercise leading up to the National Stroke Strategy and were involved in the development of an acute stroke ward at Bradford Royal Infirmary where stroke patients are medically stabilised before rehabilitation.

Independent from Promoting Excellence In Stroke, Mick is chairman of the Shipley Stroke Group, an organisation offering social and fitness activities for stroke survivors and their carers.

He also volunteers as a stroke patient ‘guinea pig’ helping medics in their training and research.

“I work on the principle that the health service was there for me when I needed them, so if there is anything I can do to help them, or others, in similar circumstances, then I will do it,” he says. “The stroke shut doors, but others have opened.”

For more information about the Shipley Stroke Group contact 07970 680258, or to find out more about Promoting Excellence In Stroke group contact (01274) 772796.

Factfile

  • A stroke is the brain equivalent of a heart attack.
  • Women are twice as likely to die from stroke than men.
  • Stroke accounts for 15 per cent of female deaths in this country.
  • Stroke causes 60,000 deaths each year in the UK.
  • Around 25 per cent of strokes occur in people aged under 65.
  • Someone has a stroke every five minutes in the UK.
  • Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability.
  • At least 450,000 people are severely disabled as a result of stroke in England.
  • Stroke causes a greater range of disabilities than any other condition, including loss of speech and paralysis.
  • Stroke is the third most common cause of death worldwide.
  • High blood pressure is the leading cause of stroke.
  • The Stroke Association is the only UK-wide charity solely concerned with combating stroke in people of all ages. It funds research into prevention, treatment and better methods of rehabilitation and helps stroke patients and their families directly through its rehabilitation and support services. The charity also campaigns, educates and informs to increase knowledge of stroke at all levels of society and acts as a voice for everyone affected by stroke.
  • For more information contact the Stroke Association, stroke.org.uk or contact the stroke helpline between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday, on 0845 3033100 (calls are charged at local rate). You can also email: info@stroke.org.uk or write to Stroke Information Service, The Stroke Association, 240 City Road, London EC1V 2PR.