Galway woman relives shock of a stroke at just 33
At 33, Galway woman Liz Donohoe was the picture of health, leading a lifestyle that all the medics tell us is the holy grail. She was a healthy weight, she had kicked her habit of occasional cigarettes three months before and exercised five times a week. She enjoyed a healthy diet and was a very moderate drinker.
She awoke one morning in March 2013 with a violent headache. As someone who got occasional migraines, she dismissed the pain in her head and continued into work.
“I was tripping over my words slightly, they weren’t coming out right. I work in accounts and found it hard to concentrate all day long. My words kept slurring. I got up the next day, I had the same headache and ended up leaving work early.
“I planned to go to the doctor the next day so looked up the number. I didn’t know how to type the words into google. I managed to get into a taxi and the only way I could let the driver know I needed to get to Eyre Square was to show him a pen with my company’s name on it.”
The minute the GP saw her, she was advised to immediately head for the hospital in a cab. In the meantime a stroke specialist was alerted and was ready to meet her at the entrance.
A day of tests revealed the bad news. Liz had suffered a stroke.
Liz spent nine days in hospital. She was put on a 300mg dose of aspirin and was started on speech therapy.
Medics found that she was born with a hole in the heart that had never been diagnosed. But they were unable to pinpoint the exact cause for the stroke.
She attended a rehabilitation programme with Croí over twelve weeks where she got to examine all aspects of her lifestyle with a host of professionals.
“It was absolutely amazing. You get three months of somebody going, ‘no, don’t do that, no don’t eat that’. Psychologically it’s always there in the back of your mind that it might happen again so it’s great to have that feedback,” she said.
Now as part of the Women at Heart’ campaign, Croí are organising three events over the coming weeks.
Next Monday, a ‘Fitness Flash Mob’ begins at 11.30am at the Spanish. The following Wednesday, cardiologist Dr Yvonne Smyth will give a public talk on heart disease in the Croí Heart & Stroke Centre in Newcastle at 7.30pm.
A fashion evening will be held on Thursday, October 23 at the Radisson Blu Hotel. Money from the tickets, which cost €25, will be used towards a Women at Heart Regional roadshow planned for early 2015 to bring the awareness campaign around the West of Ireland, with free public health talks, dietary advice and blood pressure and pulse checks for women.
See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.