A woman has shared her harrowing ordeal after experiencing sight loss and extreme forgetfulness, which turned out to be an undetected, irreversible brain bleed.
Elaine Cooper’s life flashed before her eyes when she suddenly lost total vision while driving.
She had been experiencing frequent bouts of forgetfulness, though she put this down to tiredness and simply getting older.
READ MORE: ‘Eczema cream has left me with horrific weeping, oozing skin – don’t make the same mistake as me’
The former Googlebox star tried to carry on as normal, but then her life was on the line.
It turns out she had a bleed on her brain from a hemorrhagic stroke that had been there for 10 weeks.
And sadly, there’s no treatment or cure.
“I struggled to make sense of the world around me,” the medically retired music teacher, from the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, told Need To Know.
“I was completely shocked and heartbroken.
“They told me part of my brain had been irreversibly damaged.
“And as there wasn’t anything they could do, this was just who I was now.
“At first, it was difficult and I didn’t feel like myself.
“But I knew I had to keep going and try to make the best of a bad situation.”
Elaine, 56, says when her vision returned, everything was blurry.
She had managed to get home, but then a “pounding” headache took hold.
Alarm bells didn’t go off, though, until she began forgetting her friends’ names.
She said, “I had arranged to meet some friends for lunch.
“As one of my pals walked into the café, I stared at her.
“I couldn’t think where I knew her from.
“Then it dawned on me, I had forgotten who she was.
“I had forgotten how to fill up the car a few days before that.
“A man had to come over and help.
“I looked so stupid when he easily lifted off the cap.
“It was terrifying not remembering how to do the simplest of tasks – I truly thought I was losing my mind.”
Elaine, who appeared on seasons 22 and 23 of the Channel 4 show, had her diagnosis confirmed in April 2024 following a CT scan and an MRI.
Since then, the effects of the stroke have worsened.
She’s had to give up driving, her job, and doesn’t often leave home.
Elaine added, “I suffer from extreme fatigue that makes me just so tired.
“I’ve also developed double vision and paralysis on my left side.
“It’s had such a huge impact on my life.
“I’ve had to accept that I must use a wheelchair for anything other than moving very short distances.
“But over time, I’ve learned coping strategies to help with my problems.
“And I’ve been able to attend a few gigs again, too!
“I have regular MRIS and go weekly to a rehabilitation day centre, which has been a real turning point for me.
“If I hadn’t been offered a place there, I genuinely don’t know what my wellbeing would be like today.
“I live in a rural area, which made me isolated, and the whole aspect of that was very [daunting].
“I hate relying on people for the simplest of things, but acceptance is the biggest barrier.
“It’s still scary, but slowly and surely, I’m getting back to some version of the old me.”
