After the stroke associated with my cycling accident, I have been very lucky to make a good recovery.

However, I have been shocked at the number of people our age and younger who are also suffering strokes, and it’s a number which seems to be increasing. Now 1 in 4 strokes in the UK happen to people of working age.

A stroke can bring about many different life changing conditions: the obvious physical ones and effects on speech and swallowing, but also cognitive, vision, and emotional. These are effects that have to be lived through not only by the survivor, but also by their families, wanting to care for the person they love, though their personality may have changed, and they may not be the person they once were.

The Stroke Association is not one of the “big“ charities, so any donation you make will make a difference to their work: investing in research and providing help and support for stroke survivors and their families.