George Bannister

My life was going grand, everything was fine. But then my wife found out she had cancer and we were both very shaken. Unfortunately, she didn’t respond well to the chemotherapy and I think that taking her in and out to hospital really took its toll on me. On the 22nd November 2000 my wife died. We had her funeral on a Thursday and then I had a stroke on the following Tuesday.

I was driving to my local supermarket and started to feel unwell. When I tried to get out of my car in the car park I fell, damaging my hip and my knee. A lady standing in the car park got a fright and ran to the Chemist in the supermarket. He came out to where I was lying and immediately recognised that I was having a stroke. He called Tallaght Hospital straight away to ask them to send an ambulance, telling them to bring oxygen. The oxygen really helped me while they drove me to hospital. I was very lucky that I had my stroke where I did.

As soon as I got to Tallaght Hospital the stroke doctor and his team took over. I got great care from them all throughout my time in hospital. I was in the hospital for a few weeks while I got rehabilitation. 

While I was in the hospital my son and the rest of my family had my house adjusted so that it was suitable for me. The injuries to my hip and knee meant that I was using a wheelchair when I left the hospital. I still am. I also found it difficult to speak clearly.

With all the changes I found it very hard to be back at home. My wife was gone and now I was living with the effect of my stroke.

I was put in touch with the Irish Wheelchair Association and they invited me to their day centre in Lucan, Co. Dublin.  I found going there really helpful – even if I had to get a taxi from my house in Rathfarnham to Lucan every day. While I was there I met other people going through similar experiences and I was able to get more physio. They had an acupuncturist from Beijing University and I started having sessions with him. He put needles into my neck and head and I was amazed that my speech came back to normal. What he was able to do was fantastic.

I also started going to the South Dublin Stroke Club of the Volunteer Stroke Scheme. The organiser of the group, Bridie, started asking me to go in and speak to people in hospitals who had had a stroke and who were depressed or starting to give up on their rehabilitation. I would try to tell them to keep going and that things would improve with time.

Years ago it used to be the case that if you had a stroke you would be left in a corner of the hospital with a blanket over you, but now there are ways around the problems people face after a stroke. Yes, after a stroke your life will be different and it might be slower but it isn’t over.

A lot of the stroke patients I spoke to did pull themselves together and get moving again. One particular time I went to talk to an American man who had had a stroke while on his holidays in Ireland. He was lying in the hospital bed in St Vincent’s really stressed about his business at home. He didn’t know what to do. I tried to help him to relax and focus on getting better. I heard from him again after he left hospital and returned to America – he had sold the business and now had plenty of money for his retirement. He told me that if I ever wanted to come visit him in America he would buy me a plane ticket!

It is nice to be able to help other people who have had strokes in any way at all.  I think that recovery is all about how you think about your stroke and about getting better. It is like anything – if you don’t use a muscle, it just dies away. Your brain is a muscle and you’ve got to keep it going.

I continued living on my own for a while after my stroke. But then I had a heart attack, requiring three stents to be put into my heart. My consultant said that because of my heart problems I wouldn’t be able to have an operation on my knee and hip so I am still using the wheelchair now. After my heart attack, my family didn’t want me living on my own anymore.

It happened that at the same time my daughter was moving to Meath to start a new job and we decided that we would buy a house together. So now my daughter, my ten year old grandson and I are living in a lovely 5-bedroom house outside Trim. It is great living here – she’s looking after me and I’m looking after her!

When I moved to Meath I was disappointed to find that there wasn’t a stroke support group. Barchester Healthcare, which has a nursing home in Trim, were interested in setting up a stroke club. They got in touch with the Volunteer Stroke Scheme and were sent in my direction. So I helped them set up the Meath Stroke Support Club and now every Wednesday afternoon we have a session. We do exercises while sitting in our chairs, play games and talk to each other. In May we organised a local F.A.S.T. stroke awareness campaign in Meath. We want to increase people’s awareness of the signs of stroke.

I’m also a member of the Summerhill Active Retirement group. They’ve got me involved in lots of things I wouldn’t have thought about doing before. We did a show in the Solstice Theatre in Navan town and I played the role of Father Ted. That proves there is a first time for everything!

Of course things have been different for me since my stroke. I really miss being able to drive – that’s one thing that I just can’t do because I have problems with the sight in my left eye.  I also wish I could have kept playing golf but that isn’t possible anymore.

Still, life isn’t over – far from it. I’m keeping going and keeping busy.