Harpreet Sidhu

I am a 32-year-old East-Indian stroke survivor living in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Thirteen years ago, back in 1990 I suffered from a hemorrhagic stroke, which left me with left sided paralysis, it was caused by a disease called Wegeners Granulomotosis which is a type of Vasculitis (inflammation of the blood vessels). At the time I was living in a town called Slough, which is in the County of Berkshire, England. My disease caused me various complicated health problems e.g. Epilepsy, Kidney failure etc. I was in a pretty bad way and stayed in intensive care for about 10 days. My life was suddenly turned upside-down; I had no idea to what extent I was paralysed. Because of my other health complications, I had no physiotherapy for 5-6 months after my stroke.

When I did start physiotherapy I had to learn to sit up straight, to stop dribbling, (this was the most upsetting of all, especially in front of strangers) I could not walk, so I left hospital in a wheelchair, I had my 19th birthday in hospital, my hair had all fallen out due to the strong medications for my disease, so I left hospital looking like a freak, or so I thought, on numerous medications and a feeding tube in my stomach. The months that followed were rigorous sessions of physiotherapy and in the beginning of 1991 I was admitted into a rehabilitation clinic in Oxford for intense physiotherapy and occupational therapy.

Here I stayed for a period of 6 months as an in-patient. I left Rivermead Rehabilitation Centre in Oxford and was able to walk with a cane, and wearing a splint on my leg, I had no recovery in my arm at all. Since then I moved to Vancouver, BC and have been continuing with physiotherapy treatment regularly. At the moment I am working part-time as a Medical Office Assistant and have learned to type with one hand quite accurately. My memory is improving all the time, I