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29
Oct 2021
At just 37-years-old, a Harrogate woman suffered a stroke that left her needing emergency surgery and permanently altered her outlook on life.
Caroline Brady is sharing her story today, on World Stroke Day, in hope of raising awareness that a stroke can happen to anyone, no matter their age.
On January 17, 2020 she was working as a fitness instructor at Harrogate's David Lloyd gym when she began slurring her speech.
Ms Brady finished teaching her abs class but over the next two hours continued to slur and felt dizzy.
Her colleagues grew concerned and called for an ambulance. The paramedics performed a stroke assessment, which she passed, so she was taken to Harrogate District Hospital for further investigation.
Four hours after the initial signs, Ms Brady lost control of her left side and had a stroke in hospital at 1.30pm.
By 4pm she was in theatre to remove a clot on her brain. She said she remembers "a feeling of urgency" around her but it wasn't until she came round that she understood what had just happened.
She no longer teaches gym classes and has been advised to stop weight training but says she is happy just to be walking and occasionally running again.
Following her experiences, she is determined to raise awareness of strokes and who they can affect.
She added:
Ms Brady said she was extremely lucky to be treated so quickly. Other young stroke survivors she's met were left for hours waiting for a diagnosis by doctors who didn't diagnose a stroke.
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