How our charity raffle helps real people. This is Jake’s Story.
Our charity raffle is a fun way to support, but it is also an investment into the lives of millions of people just like Jake.
At just 22 years old, Jake suffered a stroke. Two days after leaving hospital, he had another. This is his story.
I woke up with a bit of a headache and as I got up to get Panadol from the other side of the room, I fell over. My partner looked at me concerned, and I stood up and reassured her, “I’m ok, I’m ok.” Then I took another step and fell again.
My partner took a better look at me and said: “No, there’s something wrong, Jake.” She could see that my face was drooping. As I tried to move, I couldn’t lift my left arm or leg. She called the ambulance.
The ambulance arrived within 15 minutes and because I got to the hospital so quickly I was given the clot-busting drug, thrombolysis, which was fantastic. The stroke I had was ischemic, meaning I had a clot in my brain, but no bleeding.
An angiogram, where they went through my groin up to my brain with a camera, confirmed that the clot had definitely been broken down. The drug worked so well that I was looking forward to playing in my cricket grand final two weeks later. Yet two days after leaving hospital, I suffered another stroke.
This time, I waited in Emergency for 6.5 hours and by the time I was seen by a doctor, I had missed the opportunity for thrombolysis. I had to be airlifted to a Melbourne hospital, where the plan was for the surgeons to perform a clot retrieval.
My life after the stroke.
The stroke has changed things for me in a few ways. I fatigue easily, and suffer from anxiety. I can’t play hard contact sports like AFL, which is disappointing, but I do play basketball and cricket. I don’t drink as much as I used to. I would say I’m more cautious and careful. I think I’ve become more of a sentimental person. I want to help educate the community about stroke and help prevent others from having a stroke.Doctors were a bit confused about why this happened to me. I didn’t have any risk factors for stroke. I was 22, had no family history, and didn’t have high cholesterol or blood pressure. I guess it just goes to show how complex this can be. I now take preventive medication to keep my cholesterol and blood pressure low.
One quote that got me through the tough times was that: “Life’s like a game of poker; you get good hands and bad hands, but how you play them is up to you.”
You can read Jakes full story on the HRI blog.
Every time you support the Heart Research Institute, you make an investment into the lives of millions of people just like Jake. You can help us fight cardiovascular disease, the world’s number one killer by making a donation, participating in our Fundraising charity raffle or becoming a monthly Hero of the Heart raffle supporter.
Our current raffle includes a gift voucher to Harvey Norman valued at $5000 or $5,000 cash and you can enter for as little as $30. It’s a fun way to support Heart Research.
Enter our charity raffle now to help us to make the future better for millions of people.