"Back from the dead"

Last year, I tried to take my own life. I was at the end. My partner found me. She phoned the ambulance service, and they were there in 8 minutes.

I was admitted to ICU in Ulster hospital, Belfast and I was put on to life-support. And then I had a stroke and a heart attack. I was on a respirator, and I had pneumonia and a chest infection as well. According to my mother, sister and partner I had round- the- clock care for 24hrs a day. I was on the respirator for 5 weeks and they tried to take me off it twice, but it wasn’t successful. The third time the staff told my family that if I didn’t pull through then that would be it. My family agreed with this, as the best-case scenario would have been that that I wouldn’t be able to speak and I would be in a home for the rest of my life. I wouldn’t have wanted that at my age.

Then they tried to take me off the life-support and I pulled through. I was disoriented and didn’t know what was happening but everyday I got better and better and stronger and stronger. However, I was frustrated because I couldn’t speak and I couldn’t walk. I was a postman all my life, so I was essentially very fit, but as the days went on, I kept getting better.

The consultant said I was making a miraculous recovery-they took me for physio and the next day they took my stick off me, and I was able to walk- I was even doing laps of the ICU wards. The speech therapist then came to see me and asked me to read from a book-which I did. She was delighted and said I would get 90% of my speech back. All the nurses in the ICU said to me I was a miracle as they didn’t think I would recover at all.

I was then moved, after 7 weeks, to the stroke ward. I was released a week after and I went home.

I would like to thank the ICU nurses for being so brilliant and the physios were so brilliant too. I have been back to see them a couple of times and taken them sweets. I got discharged from hospital and I had the stroke team out to me for rehab, including a speech therapist, OT and Physio every week for 6 months. I would like to them because they are so good-they have done wonders for me.

I am volunteering with Cedar Foundation in Belfast-they deal with brain injuries so now I am training to counsel stroke and brain injury victims. I am a volunteer now, but I will study for 2 years to get my qualifications in this. The stroke team brings me in when anybody is down- I go and speak to the person and give them a wee gee up.