Mel's story
Mel is in her thirties. Her stroke happened three weeks after her first child was born. She developed a bad headache and slurred speech while feeding her son. Mel’s symptoms were not recognised as a stroke straight away, but her speech worsened and at the hospital a scan showed that she had a stroke.
Speech therapy and a speech and language group helped Mel recover. Practicing with her newborn son also helped: “He was good, I could read to him, or try and read and sing songs with him, do things like that and he obviously never judged me for how I sounded, which was good.”
Mel works as a water policy manager and has now gradually returned to work. Mel and her husband have had a second child since, a daughter, and Mel is expecting their third child. They do lots of activities as a family and enjoy meeting up with friends, walking and cycling.
Before the stroke, Mel thought about studying for a master degree and that is still an ambition for the future.
My dad came to see me and he wouldn’t answer my questions. I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t answer me and obviously in my head I thought I was talking normally, but really nothing made sense to anybody else.
Patient Advice
Develop memory aids and train your memory
Mel’s advice: My husband and I missed a few birthdays and things we just hadn’t remembered. So I put chalkboards and post-it notes everywhere. I tested myself on things that I had on the next day, before reading it on the chalkboard. I also used post-it notes to help me remembering words. And I would get other people to test me on naming different objects.
My life with stroke in pictures
