'Listen to your body' says Scarborough woman who had stroke
72-year-old Dorothy Gash has spoken out about her journey and recovery after having a stroke
A woman from Scarborough, who had a stroke, is urging people to "listen to their body" and seek help when it does not feel right.
Dorothy Gash, 72, says she did not realise she had a stroke back in August this year and initially went to Scarborough Hospital before being taken to York's hyper-acute stroke unit.
She says it is because her left leg went numb and her arm felt weird, which did not relate to the stroke symptoms that are on adverts.
Dorothy said:
"A good hour passed and I thought 'there's something not right at all' and my arm started feeling very peculiar as well. Now at this point I didn't relate it to a stroke because you see the adverts on television about your face is dropping and all that, but I had none of that.
"I started at the beginning using a zimmerframe and before the stroke team stopped visiting me, I was working with no aids at all. I had two walking sticks, then one walking stick and then none at all. I walk my dogs every day and I do all my own housework and gardening.
"I still have a little bit of no feeling in this left hand and tingling and my left leg is still a little bit weak, but nothing of any importance. Everybody who sees me out walking the dogs have said 'oh, you do look well' and it's nice, it gives you a lift.
"I'm a very outdoor person, I don't smoke, I don't drink, I do gardening and I'm out walking my dogs every day. I was a fit person and I can honestly say just at the beginning, I felt 'why me?' but I had things explained to me that it could happen to anyone.
"Listen to yourself. If you know that your body isn't usually like that, there's something going wrong. Try and not get too frightened if you have a stroke, ask the questions, do as you're told about the exercises and anything else, they will help you all the time."