A man who woke up suddenly unable to speak has spoken out to raise awareness of the shock scare he suffered – which also affects one person every five minutes in the UK.
Matt Wright was ‘fit, healthy and active’ before his life changed overnight due to a stroke.
While in bed with his wife, Louise, he woke to find no words were coming out when he tried to talk to her.
READ MORE: ‘My cough was cancer, not flu – my baby didn’t recognise me after treatment’
It was the start of a devastating health battle for the dad-of-one, which he has chosen to share to raise awareness on World Stroke Day (27 October).
A week prior to the incident, which took place in January of this year, the 49-year-old had been feeling generally unwell, experiencing dizziness, forgetfulness and pain in his head and neck.
The kitchen and bathroom fitter became dizzy while painting a ceiling at work one day, a week prior to the stroke, which turned out to be a warning sign of what was to come.
“I was working as normal, going up and down the ladder, and I was finding that I was quite dizzy,” Matt, from Chelmsford, Essex, said.
“I was painting a ceiling, and as I was leaning up and using the roller I found myself to be a little bit dizzy – and it wasn’t anything in particular that I thought was particularly bad.
“I didn’t fall off [the ladder] – it was just a small lack of being able to stand on top of the ladder.
“I put it down to just being old – I’m nearly 50 – or tired, or something like that.
“And it turned out it was the first part of a blood clot that had left my neck and gone to my brain, that I didn’t unfortunately find out until the following week when the rest of that blood clot broke up, went into my brain, and caused all sorts of horrible mischief.”
When he woke up unable to speak, Matt’s wife Louise called 999, and he was taken to his local hospital.
He then spent a month recovering from the stroke, which doctors found had been caused by tears in both carotid arteries, which disrupted the blood supply to his brain.
According to the Stroke Association, someone in the UK has a stroke every five minutes, and an estimated 1.4 million people are currently living with a brain injury caused by a stroke, as reported by Need To Know.
Although Matt survived, his recovery has been far from straightforward.
He continues to experience mobility problems, walks with a stick and has difficulties with his tongue and swallowing.
He also endured severe pain and significant psychological trauma during his hospital stay, and has since received therapy for PTSD.
Returning home brought its own challenges, as everyday sights and sounds felt overwhelming and adjusting to life after stroke proved much harder than he had expected.
The experience has also changed how Matt sees himself.
Despite appearing much the same to others, he says he feels like a different person – what he calls “Matt version two”.
He said: “I always say that I’m a different person now.
“It [a stroke] attacks who you are.
“It’s a really lonely thing having a stroke.
“That’s the thing that I get from a lot of people – they say to me, ‘I have felt so isolated with my stroke.’
“I think the mental side can often be harder for people to come to terms with.”
The Stroke Association is currently running their Survival Is Not Enough campaign, backed by Matt, to highlight the long-lasting effects recovery can have on the survivor.
The charity is also working to change perceptions of the medical emergency, which occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off, causing brain cells to be damaged or die.
In a study, the charity found that a third of Brits aged 18-34 (34%) and almost a quarter of 35-44 year-olds (24%) believe they are too young to have a stroke – despite one in four strokes happening to people of ‘working age’.
READ MORE: ‘My baby’s mystery tumour is growing so fast it’s lifting his arm’
