University degree for stroke survivor who learned to walk and talk again

A Westmeath woman who had to learn to walk and talk again following a devastating stroke, has graduated from university.

Carrie Minagh, 42, was shopping when she experienced a piercing pain in her head.

“I thought I was dying,” she said.

“All I could think of was all of these people around me, yet there was no-one to help me.”

When she returned home, her mother Mercedes realised she was exhibiting signs of stroke and rushed her to hospital, where she was diagnosed with a potentially fatal bleed on the brain.

“I am very lucky that I was with my mother and that she recognised two of the F.A.S.T. signs of stroke,” said Carrie, speaking ahead of World Stroke Day on October 29.

Stroke is a medical emergency. The F.A.S.T test can help you recognise the signs: Facial weakness: Can the person smile? Has their mouth or eye drooped? Arm weakness: Can the person raise both arms? Speech problems: Can the person speak clearly and understand what you say? Time to call 999: if you see any of these signs.

“If I was alone and in my own home, it could have been a very different outcome,” adds Carrie.

The stroke survivor, from Athlone, took her first steps to recovery after she was transferred from Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital, where she underwent surgery, to Portiuncula University Hospital in Ballinasloe, County Galway.

“I learned how to walk after seven-and-a-half weeks in hospital and the nurse moved my arm after nine weeks,” said Carrie, who recently graduated with a degree in Community Services and Youth Work from Maynooth University in Kildare.

“The staff at Portiuncula were key in helping me to get back on my feet.

“The physiotherapist used to wheel me down and then let me walk back up to my ward.

“Every evening when my parents came to visit, I would spend time walking up and down the corridors, practising as much as I could.

“I always told myself, ‘today is a new day and things are going to get better’.

“You can wallow in self-pity, or you can get up and take what has been dealt to you.”

Carrie, who had her stroke in 2014, now offers peer-to-peer support in the Irish Heart Foundation’s Life After Stroke Group.

Helen Gaynor, Head of Community Services with the charity, said: “The after-effects of a stroke vary from person to person and recovery can be very different.

“The Irish Heart Foundation can offer practical and emotional support post-stroke to help you live well and encourage you to work towards doing the things you enjoyed before.”

She said the charity’s Stroke Connect Service provides support to survivors via a weekly phone service, while the Young Stroke Survivors' Network runs a WhatsApp group and online and in-person exercise classes.

Several short-term courses are also available to help survivors overcome fatigue and prepare to return to work.

The Foundation is also hosting a series of online stroke talks next week (Oct 23 - Oct 27) and topics include music therapy, healthy eating and entitlements.

A free mindfulness morning retreat on October 27 is also available. To register for the talks, visit irishheart.ie.