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A young mother beat tough survival odds after a dizzy spell turned into something much more sinister. Emma Ryan from Butlerstown in Waterford was 32 in February 2023 when she began to feel unwell. She went to bed feeling dizzy, but the situation hadn't improved the next morning, and she recalls feeling strangely nauseous. A phone call from a friend raised an alarm and ended up saving her life. Now, Emma is speaking out to raise awareness ahead of World Stroke Day on Wednesday. 'My friend rang me, but could not understand a word I was saying, so [they] called over to my house. They knew something was wrong and called an ambulance,' she explained. Emma was rushed to University Hospital Waterford and subsequently to Cork University Hospital, where doctors confirmed she had suffered a stroke and had a number of clots in her brain that required emergency surgery. It also emerged that three out of the four arteries in her neck had been damaged, forcing the medical team to go through her groin to remove the clots. Following the surgery, there was another setback when she began to slur her words again and was rushed back into the operating theatre. 'They had to go through my groin again, but had to get into the one good artery in my neck to stent the clot in my brain stem. The main risk was that this artery could collapse, and then I'd be dead instantly.' Even if she came through the surgery okay, Emma could have been left with devastating injuries. 'My parents were told that there was a 99 per cent chance of death, and the one per cent chance of survival could result in me having locked-in syndrome. View this post on Instagram Somewhat miraculously, Emma managed to come through her surgery, but her recovery is ongoing. Not only did the stroke impact her health, but she was also forced to give up her job and couldn't drive or do many of the things she was used to doing. Also disheartening is that people don't realise how much she struggles every day. 'People don't understand, they tell me I look great, but they don't know what's going on inside,' she explained. Her story underlines the importance of support services following a major medical illness like a stroke, says Helen Gaynor of the Irish Heart Foundation, which includes the Young Stroke Survivors' Network and many new resources for stroke survivors and their families. The Irish Heart Foundation is also hosting a series of free online talks from 28-30 October. See more here.
