Strokes were something that I hadn't even really heard of until my father suffered one during my second year at university in 2004.  I still remember receiving the phone call from my Mum telling me that Dad had suffered a stroke.  I was away from home and flew back immediately.  I still had no real idea what a stroke was or the impact that in can have on not only the person who suffers a stroke but also to their family.

When I arrived at the hospital the physical impact that it had on my Dad was obvious straight away.  He had lost his speech and the right hand side of his body was paralysed.  The doctors were not sure whether he would make a recovery and if so how much progress he would make.  Fortunately, after several days, he was taken out of hospital and put in a community care centre.

Dad's rehabilitation process was a slow one.  He had to go through many hours of occupational and speech therapy and this would continue for years.  On the up side, after a few weeks at the centre, he was allowed to come back home.  Sadly, Dad never recovered and for the rest of his life he was unable to talk properly, often struggling to come out with one or two words to explain what he was saying.  For a man who had always been so sociable this was the hardest part.  On top of this, he never really recovered his ability to walk and suffered a series of seizures over the course of the rest of his life.  In 2007, Dad passed away.

It was extremely hard to watch Dad suffer through this physically and mentally, but there was also the impact that it had on my family.  Mum had to give up her job to stay home and support Dad through this time, and my sister and brother-in-law moved in with them to help provide support.  Dad needed a lot of support and our family had to adapt to help provide this to him.  Without the help of all the fantastic organisations who provided additional care, this would have been made much harder.

My story about stroke will be similar to many people, but it will also be a different experience to a lot as well.  Stroke and its affects fall along a continuum with some people able to make a full recovery while others do not recover at all.  I am running the Royal Parks Half Marathon for the Stroke Association to raise both funds and awareness for this debilitating illness.  When stroke strikes, part of your brain shuts down. And so does a part of you. Life changes instantly and recovery is tough. But the brain can adapt. The Stroke Association's specialist support, research and campaigning are only possible with the courage and determination of the stroke community. With more donations and support from you, they can rebuild even more lives.