Didcot dance teacher who feared career was over after stroke calls for more funding for research

A Didcot dance teacher who feared her career was over after she had a severe stroke has backed the Stroke Association’s call for more research into the UK’s fourth biggest killer.

Sam Hook had been suffering increasingly severe symptoms in the months leading up to her stroke - including temporary blindness - but says that they weren’t seen as a precursor to a possible stroke.

Sam was 40 when she had her stroke during the first week of the Covid lockdown in March 2020.

She was at home with husband Nick, 47, a detective constable in Thames Valley Police, and their sons Albert 15 and Sidney, eight.

“It was 7.30am in the morning, I was ironing a top for work that day and the room started spinning,” said Sam.

“I managed to get to the hallway to call my husband and collapsed on the floor right in front of my then six-year-old’s feet.

“I had been suffering from aura migraine attacks for about three months so we presumed that it was another one.

“Nick carried me to bed and then took my youngest to school before setting off for work but came back home thinking something didn't seem right. It’s a good job he came home or the outcome could have been very different.

“I noticed that my left eye was getting wider and wider and I was unable to close it. It just locked wide open and I couldn’t shut it. My face wasn’t drooping which is a usual sign of stroke.

“Nick called the doctors surgery who told us to go straight to the out of hours clinic. As soon as we got there I was rushed straight through and told I needed to go straight to the John Radcliffe Hospital as they believed I was having a stroke so we went there immediately.

“I had a CT scan which did not show anything but my health was deteriorating rapidly so I was kept in. By the end of the day I was unable to talk or walk properly and I could not control or use the right side of my body at all.

“I had an MRI scan two days later which determined that there was bilateral vertebral artery dissection – a tear which could have been caused by an old injury - and that I had suffered an ischaemic stroke. I was put onto medication immediately.”

“When it first happened I couldn’t walk or speak properly. The biggest thing for me was thinking I couldn’t dance again. It’s all I’ve ever done and I do it for a living. That was the biggest upset. Dance is my outlet. If I’m really sad about anything I dance, if I’m happy about anything I dance. I’ve danced since I was two.”

Sam, who is Head of Dance at Didcot Girls' School, was able to make a phased return to teaching online in June 2020 and has been back full time since September 2021.

“I still have one sided weakness - my right side is still much weaker - and I couldn’t do very much at first. I still am limited and I drop things a lot of the time.

“It took almost two years but I am now taking part in two dance classes a week and I am back teaching my own GCSE and A Level dance classes full time.

“I will never be as strong physically as I was but I am determined to do what I can!

“Just over a month ago I danced for the first time in front of an audience with my students, which was pretty emotional because it was almost two years to the day since my stroke.

“I found a therapist – privately - who has been incredible, she has not only helped me come to terms with what has happened in terms of the stroke but she has helped me to understand the tools I need to reduce unnecessary stress and live a much healthier life.

“I also have a supportive family, my husband and my boys have been my absolute rocks, as have others in my immediate family.

“My work has also been very supportive in allowing me to build up my teaching hours over time which has enabled me to gauge my recovery properly in stages.

“I have also had eye surgery in December to fix the facial palsy I was left with, I had a gold weight put into my eyelid to weigh it down and my left eye now finally closes!”

Now Sam is backing the Stroke Association’s call for more research into stroke. Despite the devastating impact of stroke, stroke research is chronically underfunded and receives far less funding than other health conditions that have similar life-long effects

Sam said she would like to see more research into some of the more unusual symptoms which could indicate that someone is heading for a stroke.

“I had always been suffering from headaches they put me on beta blockers to take every time my vision would go. It started happening about four or five times a month.

“It would go blurry then go completely. One time it happened in my classroom when I was teaching. The vision would come back after 20 minutes and I would get these horrendous migraine which sometimes would last for days. My vision still goes blurry.

“Maybe research could increase awareness that can these symptoms be an early sign of stroke.

“My blood pressure was the higher side of normal but never too high. I had my 40-year health check and they said my risk of heart attack or stroke was very low. Then ten days later I had my stroke. We laugh about now!”

Tara Lakin, the Stroke Association’s service delivery lead for the South East, said: “Stroke strikes every five minutes in the UK and while it changes lives in an instant, the brain can adapt and rebuild after stroke. That’s why research means everything to our nation’s 1.3 million stroke survivors and their families, because of the life-changing impact it could have on their future.

“Our pioneering research has been at the centre of major breakthroughs that have saved lives and sparked innovation in stroke care and treatment.

“From laying the foundations for the Act FAST campaign, one of the most successful public health awareness campaigns in England, to funding early research into the emergency stroke treatment thrombectomy (the manual removal of stroke-causing blood clots), many patients have been spared the most devastating effects of stroke as a result of our research.

“Despite stroke still being the fourth biggest killer in the UK, research has helped to more than halve the rate of deaths from stroke over the last three decades. It’s absolutely crucial that we continue this progress, but we can’t do this without vital funding. Far less is spent ‘per survivor’ on research into stroke than on research into any other health condition.

“We would never want to take researchers or money away from other conditions such as cancer, but we do want to replicate the success that cancer research has had, so that we can continue to make breakthroughs in stroke treatment and care.

“Donate to help fund the research that could mean everything to stroke survivors and their loved ones. Funds raised will go towards vital services for stroke survivors across the UK, including support and pioneering research.”