Dad's stroke and research into young men with no underlying health conditions having strokes

Hi,
I have joined today for two reasons. Firstly, my dad had a severe stroke at the beginning of the pandemic. It has changed our lives forever (mine and families). Whilst he is on the road to recovery, it’s something that I’ve never allowed myself to heal from. I was 20 when he had his stroke and my dad is the person I’ve looked up to my entire life. I get on with him now better than I ever have, but sometimes I harbour some guilt that I couldn’t have done anything to prevent it from happening or noticed the symptoms he was having in the day sooner. I am also the oldest sibling in my family, so during that time I stepped up and looked after my brother and mum whilst dad was away. Whilst I do not regret this, as I would do anything to protect my mum and look after my brother, I sometimes feel I never got the chance to emotionally process what happened myself. I’m just wondering if there’s anyone out there that’s gone through a similar experience. How have you coped and how do you continue to?

Secondly, my dad’s stroke led me to do a lot of my research into how during the pandemic, there was an increase in major strokes impacting young, fit and active men with no preexisting health conditions. I have since discovered a correlation between some, not all, strokes and covid. I have decided as a student journalist, to create a documentary on this, in the hopes that it will raise awareness surrounding a severely underreported and underrepresented topic. I am wondering if anyone here would be happy to share their story with me and be interviewed for my piece. It would be amazing to speak to someone about the topic, as not only would it aid my documentary, but I also believe it will help me understand my dad’circumstancesce further. Please reply in the comments if this is something you’d like to discuss :slight_smile:

@naomifin welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear of everything you’re going through. As @Mahoney has said please don’t feel guilty about not picking your dads symptoms up sooner. It’s likely it had already happened & they do just come from nowhere. You’ve done so much for your dad & the family & you should be very proud of that. Not stroke related but I had a similar situation with my dad so know how difficult it can be.

In relation to your studies I think that’s a great idea but I too am the wrong gender to help out.

It is important you take time to deal with your feelings too…you’ve been through so much.

Xx

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Hi Alan,
I have only just seen your post so apologies that I took so long to reply. Thank you for your kind words firstly. And second, hearing about your experiences with trauma really moved me. I’m someone who often tries to find an answer to everything and believes everything happens for a reason. And while that can work hand in hand, it can also often leave me searching for the answers to unanswered questions. To hear you say, that I don’t need an answer to everything, has given me so much clarity. so thank you.

Secondly, thank you for sharing the article, ill be sure to give it a good read and take notes for my research. And finally, I would love to speak and interview yourself regarding your experience with stroke, as you have depicted in your response. Do you have an email that I may contact you on to discuss this further?

Thank you again, you’ve truly helped more than you realise.

Naomi.

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