Local businessman: 'No one is too young to have a stroke'
Entrepreneur warns age is irrelevant after being struck down at 36
Last updated 29th Apr 2018
A local businessman has urged the public to be aware of stroke symptoms, after he suffered one at the age of 36.
Ronan Sweeney who owns the Balloo Inns group, was young and healthy when his health failed unexpectedly ten years ago.
The dad and entrepreneur said his GP initially thought it was connected to migraines he had been having, before realising it was much more serious:
"My memory was really, really, poor, my vision was very limited on my right side, my balance was off.
"These things weren't improving and I knew something was wrong so I kept going back until I got a referral from the GP to see a neurologist."
And he described his reaction when he found out he had suffered from a stroke:
"Initially shock obviously because you can't really take it in, mine was quite mental rather than physical.
"There were some minor physical effects for me but mine was more my higher thought processes.
"Maybe because you link your youth to good health you feel slightly resentful.
"You kick back and go 'why has this happened me?'
"I was a runner in those days and I was always in decent health.
"You try and justify it in your own mind but it doesn't add up, there is no traditional profile of a stroke victim but what the lasting effects are can be many-fold."
The businessman has now got on board with local charity Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke to raise awareness and says everyone should know the signs, regardless of age.
"This wasn't a freakish thing that happened to me, it's a very common occurrence," he said.
Although most of the signs of a stroke can be physical, Ronan highlighted the mental impact it can have on victims and their families.
He told Downtown Cool FM, the effects of the stroke left him feeling alone and vulnerable:
"It did get me down and that's where you have to trust people who know, who are advising you that these things will improve.
"And they did improve slowly but it wasn't over months, it was over years.
"Stroke rehabilitation is a slow process and that's not just about receiving physiotherapy, that was about my mental processes coming back.
"You do get in dark places sometimes and you do feel as if you're on your own and you don't have help so be patient and talk to people."