I survived a stroke at 36 - now I help others

Dec 20 2007 by David Higgerson, Liverpool Daily Post

Donna Phelan tells David Higgerson about her desire to pass on her remarkable story

WHEN Donna Phelan stands at the front of a class of would-be speech therapists, she is more than just another visiting lecturer.

The 43-year-old is proof of the debilitating effect a stroke can have on your life – and the fact that, with enough hard work and determination, it can be overcome.

By anyone’s standards, Donna, who lives in Croxteth Park, had a particularly severe trauma to overcome.

She said: “I had my stroke when I had a brain haemorrhage in 2001. I was 36, and I never thought people had strokes at such a young age, but obviously they do.

“I had felt run down and then collapsed. For two hours I drifted in and out of consciousness, with my baby crawling around at the time.

“Eventually, someone found me and I went to hospital. I spent three days in a coma and seven months in rehabilitation.

“At first, I couldn’t speak and had to learn to walk again. It was like starting all over again. It’s something you never think you’ll ever have to do. One day, I was having a busy, normal life while training to be a nurse, the next day I was facing having to start all over again.”

The cruel twist meant that, rather than progressing into a career in caring, Donna had to rely heavily on people caring and supporting her – at first.

Now, some six years after the stroke, Donna is putting her experience to good use.

She said: “I think having been through what I’ve been through means I have something to give back.

“I have always wanted to work in a type of profession which involves caring, and what I have done since my stroke has taken me off on a tangent, but I think I am doing that. Obviously, I had to stop my nursing training because I just had to focus on getting better.

“At first, I started going back to the Walton Neurological Centre, where I was treated, and talking to other patients about their experiences.

“I have spoken to stroke victims of all ages. Most tend to be older, but I have realised that I am certainly not alone in having a stroke at a relatively young age.”

Donna recently received the good news that the Merseyside Development Federation had agreed to give her a grant to set up a support group for people overcoming the effects of strokes.

She said: “The support group aims to give people somewhere to turn to to hear from other people who have been in the same situation as them.

“I hope that I can use my experience to help others in the future and slowly I am building my audience in that way.”

The self-help group, which will meet in accommodation on Norton Street, Liverpool, will be aimed at younger people who, like Donna, still feel the effects of a stroke several years on. The stroke left her with a permanent physical disability and also aphasia, a language disability.

But perhaps the activity which pleases Donna most is meeting, and talking to, the speech therapists of the future.

Every year, several times a year, she speaks to students at Manchester Metropolitan University, all of who are training to be speech therapists.

She said: “Things like speech therapy, after a stroke, start almost on day one. You have to get up and get on with it. But, as with so many different parts of the medical profession, if you’re treating someone, often you will not have had experience of what that person is going through.

“Speech therapy is something I would perhaps like to do one day, but I hope that I make a difference by actually talking to the students about my experiences. I tell them about the challenges I faced and how I felt as I went along.

“The speech support I received was incredible and really helped me to where I am today, and I hope by speaking to students, about 40 at a time, I can ensure my experiences help others too.

“There is no point looking back and feeling hard done to. I’ve had setbacks along the way, everyone does, but each time, you have to get on with life.”

FOR more information on the new self-help group, contact cross505@btinternet.com

davidhiggerson