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Over the next 10 months Chris Robinson the Managing Director of Collaborative Business Development will be setting out to climb 10 peaks across the Scotland to raise awareness and funds for Chest Heart Stroke Scotland.

The Story

7th November 2018 I woke up to a day of meetings with a client
who I was doing sales for…unknown to me my life was going to hit a major bump…I had a stroke,

I didn’t have the typical symptoms of what we are to look
out for when someone is having a stroke, the dropping face, slurred speech and weak arms.  

What happened to me was I became very dizzy very quickly and for about 30 mins, this then subsided and I became very tired…I simply put all this down to being tired or working too hard…but what had happened is I split a vein in my head…I was advised by doctors, this could have been caused by anything from a cough to a violent sneeze…to this day I don’t remember what happened at the time.

Still not knowing what was actually wrong, the doctor at the local GP sent me directly to the hospital, at this point I was finding it
difficult to walk properly and feeling numbness down my right hand side.

I was admitted into the stroke unit, where I have to commend the staff at ARI who looked after me so well, but at this point I had stopped breathing and coughing up blood…thankfully temporarily but as you can imagine this was a scary moment.

When I woke up the following day, thankfully I was a little more aware of what was going on and a few of the symptoms had improved…except
the ability to walk, I had completely forgotten how to walk, and unable to
swallow food

The doctors and nurses had said it would be a long time before I would be able to walk again…this is something I didn’t want to hear…and for those who know me I can be a little stubborn, so I wasn’t going to
let this beat me…so after 3 days of physio, again I have to commend the
patience and knowledge of the staff at ARI for putting up with my
frustrations…but day 3 I took my first step. 

That was me then, I was determined to walk further and further… apologies to the nurses who after advising me to take it easy I did not listen, and every hour I was determined to do an extra step…my aim by the end of the week was to walk from one side of the room to the other…doesn’t sound a lot but it was 8 steps and each step took so much energy and mental power…but I was there by day 3 so I set my goals to walk the length of the corridor and by day 7 I had walked from one end of the hospital to the other and back (around 500m) albeit with a bit of stability from the wall.

Day 10 came and I was transferred to Woodend for
rehabilitation where I had to go through quite a few tests before I could be allowed home, still a little unsteady on my feet I was walking unaided and finally I got to eat my first solid food. 

The moral of this is don’t give up, if you are determined to
achieve something do what you can to get there one step at a time.

The past 12 months has been quite limited, I haven’t been
able to fly, so no hot weather holidays this year.  No rollercoaster ride (not that that was a weekly occurrence before my stroke)

Before officially going back to work, I took a couple of months to look at what I actually wanted to do, what I enjoyed doing, not what
I had to do. 

I had my Limitations, and was told, no bungee jumping, no going to the gym, no chiropractors’, no yoga, no pilates, no weight lifting, no painting and decorating, having my hair washed at the hairdressers, no massage, no playing football, martial arts or even playing pool, no ziplining, no riding motorbike/quad bikes, no ziplining, no roundabouts in the park and no running long distances, no trampolining and the list goes on…some of them I have missed and others there was no possibility of
me ever doing it anyway.  But you find when you take something for granted to be then told you can’t do it the opportunity arises and you want to do it, and constantly having to think if it is something you are allowed to do

Before I had my stroke, I was in simple terms an outsourced business development manager, although I was capable of doing this and thought I enjoyed it, when I sat back and really thought about what I want to do, I found I was simply existing…going through the routine of going to work, selling then going home…and In reality this isn’t what I wanted to do for the next 20 years of my life

So I sat back and looked at what I have done in the past and what I want to do…this is when I changed what my company does, so I ditched the
outsourced business development, and now I help businesses with their sales strategy, so they have a clear vision of where their future customers are coming from, help them find the right person to be responsible for their sales and provide that person with management, put training and development in place for company owners and staff to help them increase their customer numbers and audit their current sales processes and introduce and implement improvement, there is a lot more involved in what I do with my customers…but now I feel I am not working but doing what I enjoy.

The Challenge

With walking being the one thing that was most effected by my stroke, I wanted to create a challenge which encompassed walking, I have spent the past year learning to walk again, I am still only at 80% although I can walk, I constantly have to think about every movement, they say to learn something it takes 20,000 times to learn new paths in the brain, and then another 20,000 for it to become a habit and then another 20,000 for it to become a subconscious habit

The challenge will include climbing 10 peaks in Scotland with each one being progressively higher, starting with Bennachie in February to Ben Nevis...the ultimate challenge in November to celebrate 2 years since suffering a stroke.

The Schedule

Most of these peaks can be climbed regardless of the weather, however the date may change dependant on the weather forecast and after if advised to not attempt.

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