Young stroke victim: "I feel abandoned"

Over half of stroke survivors in Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire feel abandoned when they leave hospital.

That's according to new figures published today by the Stroke Association.

The charity says a third of people who have had a stroke in our region returned home without the appropriate support in place for their recovery.

Nathan Ridgard, from North Yorkshire, had two strokes and a haemorrhage aged just 36.

He's among those who feel abandoned and is also calling for more awareness into the condition.

It took doctors three days to diagnose that he had suffered a stroke due to his young age with doctors initally passing it off as a severe migraine.

It means he now suffers serious side effects such as vision impairment, balance issues and fatigue, which could have been avoided had it been detected earlier.

Nathan said:

“When I was initially taken to hospital, doctors thought I was too young to have had a stroke and I was kept waiting three days for an MRI scan. After I was discharged after a week I felt nervous that I’d been sent home so soon after what had happened. I felt like I needed someone to hold my hand and guide me but instead I felt like I was passed from pillar to post with no one to turn to for the medical and personal support I actually needed.

“I could tell that there was a lack of medical resource that specialised in my condition and no one could dedicate time to helping provide the support I needed. There was also a distinct lack of information and advice as to what to do next in my personal matters such as employment, our house and bills, driving, insurance matters. It's a mind-field and one which you are in no fit state to handle yourself at the time and your loved ones are too busy caring for you. As a young man it felt like someone had taken my life as I knew it. I was left to wonder who is going to help me.

“If the government invested more into stroke care they could potentially save themselves so much money in the long run as more people would get back to work and more people would be able to care for themselves."

Jon Barrick, chief executive at the Stroke Association, said:

“These findings are deeply concerning. Currently, too many stroke survivors feel abandoned when they return home as they are not given the right support to begin their rehabilitation.

"Major strides have been made in the way stroke is treated in hospital; however the same is not true when stroke survivors return home. No one plans for a stroke, but the Government can, and should, ensure that the right care and support is there when people need it most.

“Stroke survivors have told us that they have had to wait weeks – and in some cases months – for the support and therapy they need to rebuild their lives. For too many people, their support comes too late, it stops too soon, or they don’t have access to all types of therapy they need."

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