My name is Hayette and I had a severe stroke when I was 32 years old. I had a subarachnoid haemorrhage followed by an ischaemic stroke a few days later. A subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) is a life-threatening type of stroke, caused by bleeding into the space surrounding the brain. I later learned, about a third of SAH patients die immediately, or soon thereafter. For the patients who do survive, urgent treatment is required to seal off the aneurysms, as there is a very high risk of a second, and often fatal bleed. If I was to live and avoid terrible deficits, I would have to have urgent surgery. And, even then, there were no guarantees,
I have no recollection of what happened to me as it is usual for the brain to forget what happened due to the bleed or urgent treatment. This is because my brain wasn’t working properly to lay down memories of my early stay in hospital. My stroke was severe because:
- I had to go to intensive care to manage my stroke
- I have cognitive impairments and my right toes and ankle are paralysed
- There is damage to my brain demonstrated in my follow-up scan
MOM: I have hoped to see her recover and get back on her feet, but the process has been slow and we need financial help to help with her medication she had the stroke in 2021 and w have been spending since then.