Stroke survivor powers on

What started as only a small head-ache ended up changing the life of Geraldton man Gordon MacLeod.

On March 4 last year, Mr MacLeod arrived at work with a minor headache that gradually worsened throughout the day.

The last thing he remembers is speaking to the triage nurse at Geraldton Hospital before waking up in a hospital bed 15 days later.

Mr MacLeod suffered a stroke, caused by a deep bleed in the brain.

He spent weeks re-learning how to walk and talk, but 16 months on, Mr MacLeod cannot believe how far he has come.

“When I woke up in hospital and couldn’t move or even speak, I remember wondering what the point of surviving was,” he said.

“It was a while before I realised why I needed to try to get better, not for me, but for my wife I had only married five months before any of this.

“Even then it was still months in rehab before I was slowly able to regain some of my mobility.

“If anything, I was determined to be able to at least shower and toilet myself.

“I very slowly began to regain some of my speech and body movements.

“The stroke deeply affected my right side, and being right-handed, I also had to learn how to write with my left hand.

“Compared to where I started and where I am now, it’s remarkable I’ve been able to come so far during such a hard time.”

Learning to adapt to his new life, Mr MacLeod now joins wife Noeleen in art classes and will also soon learn to play the ukulele.

He also hopes to start hosting educational sessions at schools with the hope of teaching children they are no different from anyone with a disability.

“Sometimes kids will see me and are afraid because I’m in a wheelchair or because I speak differently,” he said.

“I want to help teach them that we’re no different.

“Our personalities haven’t changed because of a disability.

“It’s about spreading awareness and helping them to understand at a young age what living with a disability really means.”

For his new lease on life, Mr MacLeod’s efforts have earned him a nomination for a Stroke Foundation Courage Award, with finalists set to be announced in coming weeks.

Mrs MacLeod, who now helps care for her husband, said she was in awe of how much her husband had achieved.

“I’m going to pin it down to being a stubborn Scotsman, because there was never any way he was going to let the stroke stop him from living his life,” she said.

“Every day he continues to amaze me with his strength.

“This nomination is a testament of how much he’s still going to achieve.”