Croydon man's stroke left him unable to speak or write properly and fearful that he wouldn’t be able to work

A Croydon man was devastated when a stroke left him unable to speak or write properly and fearful that he wouldn’t be able to work.

Roger, 48, was at home when a blood clot damaged the part of his brain that controls speech and caused a communication difficulty known as aphasia.

Roger was taking a career break to help look after his mum Lyanda who had been diagnosed with dementia. His stroke struck without warning five days after his mum had died.

“I had returned from hospital earlier that day after registering my mum’s death,” said Roger. “I felt fine and wasn’t over stressed as my mum had been ill for a while.

“I went to the bathroom and the next thing I knew I was on the floor unable to move. I couldn’t speak properly.

“Luckily, I was able to call my sister who was downstairs. She phoned my brother who was able to force the bathroom door open and put me on my bed and call 999.

“The ambulance staff suspected that I had a stroke and took me straight to St George’s Hospital in Tooting which has specialist stroke wards.

“I arrived at St George’s within two to three hours of having a stroke and was treated with thrombolysis, a clot busting drug, pretty quickly after arriving.

“There was little physical damage according to initial doctor assessments but it was clear that there had been some damage to my communications skills.

“My stroke left me unable to speak properly. The impact of that was just so huge. I went from drafting ministers’ letters and policy reports to not being able to write.

“I was the one who was always good at communicating. I was relied on for it. It was vital for me. It was vital for my work. It was a huge sense of loss.

“I was the carer for my dad when I had my stroke. How could I ever return to be my dad’s carer? I could not communicate properly. I couldn’t even count to 20,” said Roger.

Language and communication had been essential throughout Roger’s career and his most recent role had been as a senior business improvement officer at the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

With the support of the Stroke Association, the UK’s largest charity dedicated to stroke, Roger began speech therapy to help rebuild his life after the stroke which happened in October 2018.

“If it wasn’t for the stroke association I would have no hope today. Now I have plenty of hope and I have a bright future ahead of me.

“Jack from the Stroke Association was there from the start,” said Roger. “He talked to me and checked I understood what had happened. He helped me fill in Universal Credit forms and helped me to find voluntary work.

“Knowing I could regain my communication skills, that was my real moment of hope. Now I’ve found my words again I’ve secured myself a job.

“After seven months of speech and language therapy I was able to apply for jobs again. After two interviews, I was selected by the local authority in East London to be senior scrutiny policy officer. I was able to be return to the world of work, even if with some limitations due to my aphasia.”

“To be able to return to work was a major relief. There was no guarantee that I would be able to return to role similar that I had prior to my stroke. However, with the support of my speech therapists and the Stroke Association I managed to improve my written and spoken English to a level that allowed me to apply for senior policy officer positions.

“I am supported at work through my manager, who has provided additional assistance through colleagues who help to proofread my work and help me to managing committee meetings. This has how allowed me to perform in my role to a high standard.”

Roger now wants to raise awareness of aphasia and let people know that the effects of stroke are not just the more widely-known physical ones.

“I am able to advocate for stroke survivors because – bar when I write or when I have some difficulty speaking – most people will not realise I’ve had a stroke. People say ‘you just sound like a person who might a slight stutter’ or ‘we all have difficulty in pronouncing some words – why would you be any different?”

“I want to be able to talk about non-physical complications caused by a stroke and how we address then in society or in workplace and ensure stroke survivors receive the appropriate support. If an individual had physical complications they would be addressed by their employer.”

Roger is sharing his story to support the Stroke Association’s Hope After Stroke campaign, highlighting the difficulties the stroke survivors can face and moments that can give them optimism in their recovery.