Just over a year ago I almost lost my dad to a stroke.

I was on FaceTime to my mum when she told me she’s worried about my dad as something is definitely wrong, and when he came on camera to speak, his words were slurring to the point I couldn’t pick up a single word of what he was saying. I remember shouting at him down the phone in tears to go to the hospital as the most important aspect about a stroke is to act FAST. As he is the most stubborn man to exist, he refused to go and tried to sleep it off, I went to bed that night not knowing if I was going to wake up to the news that my dad had died through the night.

The next morning my mum forced him to go to the hospital, keeping my brothers and I updated whilst we were at work. The doctors told her that my dad had had 2 strokes, caused by blood clots on either side of his brain. Hearing this news whilst working and being so far away from home was sole destroying. My dad was stuck in the hospital and I couldn’t get to him straight away.

My brother drove all the way down to Edinburgh to pick me up to take me to Inverness that night, getting in at about 2am, which meant that I still had to wait to see my dad, and when I did get to see him the next day I promised that I would stay strong knowing that he couldn’t. Staying strong was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, my dad couldn’t talk, couldn’t stand and couldn’t eat, almost as if he had been stripped of every last bit of independence possible. Seeing a parent in this condition is something that I would never wish on anyone.

The recovery after the strokes was never going to be easy, but bit by bit he has gotten better. He can now hold a conversation, although it now takes him a bit longer to think about what he’s going to say, and he still goes out and about to keep himself busy. But there are bits that are a struggle for him. Memory and dizziness are the biggest ones. Due to where the clots were on his brain, they have affected his short term memory, where he forgets things all the time, and the dizziness never goes away and there’s not much that helps it.

As a family we try to stay as lighthearted about the situation as possible, to try and bypass the severity of it as he is not the only person in my family to have suffered from a stroke. However I was the most frightened I’ve ever been in my life last July. My dad is the reason I am where I am today and I couldn’t imagine my life without him in it.

Unfortunately, not every family is as lucky. On average, 41 people in Scotland have a stroke everyday and heart and circulatory conditions are the causes of deaths in 1 in 4 people.

Chest, Heart and Stoke Scotland are a charity that support people who are living with these conditions, and help them live their lives to the fullest. Which is incredibly important, especially for those who don’t have a support system at home.

This year I’m not only walking the Kiltwalk for CHSS, but I’m also walking for my dad, my auntie and others that have been affected by these conditions.