Sever Stroke Recovery

Hello, my name is Kayla. I never thought I’d find myself in this desperate situation. On the 8th of May 2022, I discovered my healthy 28-year-old fiancé on the floor of his office, completely incoherent and unable to move the left side of his body. Being almost 9 months pregnant, I couldn’t do much more than phone 999. He was soon in Durham hospital; I received a call from the doctors telling me that he was having a severe Ischemic stroke and was being transferred to RVI hospital in Newcastle for thrombectomy surgery to remove the blood clot in his brain. Seeing him later that day, I learnt that his condition had deteriorated. He was still experiencing the stroke and would continue doing so for 24 hours, but thanks to the amazing Dr Anand Dixit in charge of his care, he offered him a Stem Cell Trial treatment. (Please follow the link) Harrison was the first person in Europe to receive phase 3 of this trial medication. It aided his recovery just enough for him to be stable in a wheelchair and allowed him to attend our beautiful son's birth on 21st May, only 18 days after his stroke. I was and still am so grateful! But within the space of a few weeks, I found myself overwhelmed. I was on my own recovering from an emergency C-section while being a full-time mom and a full-time carer to my fiancé with no family nearby to help. We fought so hard not to let our situation get the better of us, and 6 months later, we have come so far. Harrison is doing so well in his recovery, but realistically he has many years of recovery ahead of him. Due to a loophole in his life insurance, they are unwilling to help and cover the loss of income, and now his sick pay provided by his work is being reduced to 50% of his normal annual income. With a new baby relying on us, Harrison is returning to work ASAP. We will not survive on £1000 a month if he does not, but he is nowhere near ready! He has years of recovery ahead of him such as occupational therapy, which focuses on improving daily activities, such as dressing, bathing, reading, writing and Physical therapy, where he uses exercises to help relearn movement and coordination skills of the left side of his body. He still suffers immensely from post-stroke symptoms such as Paralysis of his left arm, weakness, and trouble with thinking, awareness, attention, learning, judgment, and memory. Part of his brain literally died. These skills are vital for a Dev Ops engineer who must spend hours on a computer and troubleshoot computer system faults. I have not told him I am starting this, as I don’t want to get his hopes up, but Harrison is one of the most generous, hardworking and stoic people I have ever had the great fortune to meet. He says the worst part for him is not being able to pick up our baby and give him a cuddle whenever he wants. He doesn’t know how to ask for help, even when he needs it the most. I am doing this out of love and desperation.

Any money donated will go towards our mortgage, bills, and baby supplies. £18,000 would help us with the bare necessities, getting us through the next 6-8 months and hopefully providing Harrison with more time to recover from his stroke. I know times are tough for everyone, so even sharing this with your friends and family would mean the world to my family and me. Thank you so much from all of us!