A Brentwood stroke survivor who was left unable to read, write, understand, or speak properly after a stroke at the age of 23, is backing a campaign to raise awareness of the impact of having a stroke at a young age.
Alex Bowles describes the moment she had her stroke as if ‘half her head was missing’, and subsequently Alex spent years accepting that life had changed for her.
Alex, now 32, had spent a Friday night out with her friends. But the next day she felt terrible. She put it down to a hangover. But as time wore on Alex felt sick, faint and had dull ache in her head.
Alex explains: “There’s a bad hangover, and there’s what I was experiencing. It’s so hard to explain just how horrible it all was. My gut feeling was that something wasn’t right, and this was more than just a hangover. But me being me, I carried on thinking it would go away soon.”
The next day, Alex’s cleaner came into her home and knew that Alex needed help. Alex said: “I started to talk to my cleaner, and I was assuming I was making complete sense – not realising I was slurring and talking gibberish. The more I was talking, the increasingly worried my cleaner was getting. Thankfully, she called my mum who rushed over and called for an ambulance.”
Paramedics arrived quickly to Alex’s home. They soon realised something was quite seriously not right with Alex’s head and decided to take her to hospital to get checked. Alex was rushed to Queens Hospital in Romford.
Alex said: “At first there were some delays when I arrived. As time went on, I know things were getting worse. Doctors on shift thought I had an ‘exaggerated headache’. But luckily one doctor thought it would be best I had a CT scan before going home. After some time passed waiting, I finally had the scan which showed I had had a huge stroke.”
Alex had both an ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke – a clot and bleed on her brain.
Alex has been told that her stroke is likely to had been caused by a combination of things.
She said: “I’d experienced a type of stroke known as a sigmoid sinus thrombosis; with an extensive subarachnoid haemorrhage. In simple words a huge clot and bleeding to the brain. It was a terrifying experience, but the scariest part was finding out it is likely to had been caused by my contraceptive pill. They also think that the steroids I was taking and a recent flight I’d been on could be factors to the stroke too.
“Life as I knew it completely changed. I spent a year off work and had to endure lots of therapy. At the time, I didn’t understand why. I was reluctant to accept I was ‘different’, which made me feel really angry and sad.
“I left hospital totally relying on family and friends. I became less confident, sociable and became increasingly emotional and angry.
“I still struggle today with the side effects of the stroke – understanding can be really tricky for me. I even find it hard to understand simple jokes! This makes me feel behind, and isolated.”
Now, at the age of 32, Alex wants to turn this traumatic time of her life into something positive.
She said: “Time has passed, and they say time is a healer. I’ve come so far in nine years, worked hard on my rehabilitation and feel like I’m now in a place where I want to help other young stroke survivors.
“I have learnt to accept the changes within me. For years I was fine and just got on with things, however, now I’m a bit older I feel my past is affecting me in different ways which I find hard to find others to relate or understand.
“I’d like to start a group for stroke survivors locally. Whether it [stroke] was recent or years ago, I feel we are all in the same boat one way or another. Although I can relate to younger woman of similar age, I don’t want this to be exclusive to age or gender.”
In a shocking turn of events, just four years later, Alex’s mother Karen Lane, went on to have a stroke.
Alex and Karen opened a tearoom in 2016 in Brentwood, called Merrymeade Tea Room. This is where Alex hopes to run her stroke survivor group.