Stroke survivor says incident ‘robbed her of her life’

A stroke survivor who says the incident “robbed her of her life” is sharing her story to raise awareness on World Stroke Day.Kelly Holmes, 52, of Lynn, suffered an ischaemic stroke in January 2023.Now, her husband Dave aids the grandmother-of-four in everything, from getting dressed, to eating and washing.

Dave said that Kelly’s stroke robbed her of “precious milestone moments” with her family and left her “a completely different person”.Dave said: “Kelly has always been a talker. She always had social jobs, from working in clubs in London, and having her pub licence, to being a receptionist in a garage.“Kelly would always ooze fun and happiness. She was confident, bubbly and you could often hear her before you saw her.” Kelly was at work one day when her speech began to slur. Colleagues advised she went home after she mentioned beginning to feel unwell. Once home, her symptoms worsened and her husband was concerned, but Kelly felt she just needed to rest.The next morning, when things hadn’t improved, Dave called the local GP surgery and got an appointment. He said: “It was so out of character for Kelly to be this poorly. The GP took Kelly’s blood pressure, and it was dangerously high.“He was certain that Kelly had had a mini-stroke, He gave her some aspirin and advised we went to A&E urgently. When we got to the hospital, Kelly had a really bad turn – this we are told, was another stroke.”Today (October 29) marks World Stroke Day. Kelly now lives with right-sighted weakness, which means she is only able to use her left arm and leg, and with a communication difficulty called aphasia.Kelly’s aphasia has made it difficult for her to talk in full sentences, to understand and has severely affected her reading and writing. Kelly’s mental health has also been affected.Dave added: “After the stroke, Kelly’s mental health hit rock-bottom. And I don’t blame her. Her whole life as she knew it has been turned upside down. Everything changed for us both.”“Kelly was suicidal in the early days of her recovery. It was so dark and the most challenging time for the whole family. I didn’t want to see her this upset. It broke my heart.” The Stroke Association supported Kelly when she joined the local communication group. Kelly regularly attended and was able to regain her confidence, meet other stroke survivors, and develop communication strategies.Dave said: “The Stroke Association has been a fantastic support for Kelly and the whole family. I really don’t know where we would be without them.“We started with one local Stroke Association group, and over time Kelly enjoyed it so much that we tried the other groups the charity has locally too! They’ve helped Kelly to not feel alone – it’s been a lifesaver for us both.“Today Kelly has come so far. She’s happy, and family really gets her through any of her low days. I’m really starting to see Kelly coming to her old self again. “Life is definitely different to what it once was, and we have been through hell and back – but I’m starting to see light at the end of the tunnel now.”For confidential support on an emotional issue, call Samaritans on 116 123 at any time.If you want to talk to someone confidentially, click here.Reporting by Pheobe Cornell