Cumbria woman shares 'scary' stroke experience in bid to warn others of potential symptoms
ITV Border's Matthew Taylor visits Angela Johnston who is looking to raise awareness about strokes
A woman has spoken about her experiences of having a stroke as she urges others to be more aware of the potential symptoms.
Angela Johnston woke up and, out of the blue, she began experiencing symptoms which ended up being her having a stroke.
She works in a doctor's surgery and when she made it to work her colleagues noticed her speech was off.
Angela is looking to raise awareness for people who suffer a stroke so they know what to expect and what they can do to protect themselves.
She said: "When I woke up on the Wednesday morning and started getting ready for work I just felt like my speech was off a little bit.
"I got into work and I was really upset and really hot. My work colleagues said to sit down and asked me what was wrong.
"I just said I feel like I was talking funny and they agreed that I was a bit."
Around 100,000 people have strokes in England, Scotland and Wales every year, with around 33,000 of those, about a third resulting in a person's death.
Others are left with permanent problems like speech difficulties, facial paralysis and cognitive issues.
Angela believes that she was lucky her colleagues in the doctor's surgery where she works noticed her symptoms and she was swiftly transported to the hospital in an ambulance.
She said: "It was a bit scary. Had I been at home that day and decided not to go to work then I would have turned over and went back to sleep and probably just brushed it off as not feeling 100%.
"It could have ended up more severe. I am very grateful and thankful to the girls at work."
Rachel Glover, stroke nurse consultant, at North Cumbria NHS Trust said: "Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the UK.
"The brain is able to learn new things and that is why rehabilitation with specialist stroke care is so important.”
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