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