David Bostock's story inspired the NSW's campaign The Voice Within that is described by Trish Cotter in her rendez-vous. Here is his testimony.
My name is David Bostock,& I'll be exhibit A for today on the dangers of smoking & stroke.
I suffered my Haemorraghic Stroke in
Sept '03 at age 39, primarily due to smoking and slightly elevated blood
pressure, so I was led to believe. My bleed was located in the basal
ganglian area of the brain (which is located near the brain stem).
My bleed occured with very little warning, it was a Sunday morning,
I was in the shower where I dropped to a state of unconciousness, which
I remained in for roughly 3 weeks. Now I've done some reading on this
& apparently a bleed in this part of the brain has a 30 per cent
survival rate, so in essesence I'm quite fourtunate.
I was at first taken to Gosford Hospital
then transferred by helicopter to Royal North Shore Hospital Intensive
Care Unit where I received Specialist care which Gosford Hospital were
unable to provide. I spent 3 weeks in Intensive Care of which
I have no recollection, then was transferred to the Neurological Ward
for another 7 weeks, a total of 10 weeks in the Royal North Shore Hospital.
After that time, I was transferred to
Wyong Hospital's Rehabilitation Unit where I received intensive physiotherapy
and occupational therapy & treatments for other ailments that had
occured because of the stroke. I was dertimined to achive some type
of mobility & have travelled through many different stages to achieve
this, ie wheelchair, quad stick,walking stick etc.
So now nearly 4 years down the track
I have been left with left-sided paralysis which requires me to wear
an AFO (ankle foot orthopotic) so I may walk in a manner that resembles
a functional gait. My left arm and hand has no sensation whatsoever
which my Neurologist informs me is my greatest barrier to any meaningful
function of my left arm. I have semi regular injections of botox to
try to allievate the high levels of spastisity in my left arm &
hand & today am wearing an article of clothing called second skin,
which is a support garment on my am in a vain attempt to keep it by
my side. Any perceived grace or fluidity of movement has all but left
me as also has the notion of automatic pilot. Everything is now an effort
& I feel that I have turned into an old man overnight.
Being a relative heavy smoker (30 a day)
most of my adult life to the age of 39, I was led to believe contributed
greatly to the bleed in my brain. Being in manual labour most of my
working life, I believed myself to be relatively bullet-proof at the
age of 39 and had certainly felt no effects of smoking up till that
time. Possibly my only warning signs were what I believed to be migraine
headaches that occured roughly once every 3 months during that previous
year, something that to a 39 year old is nothing to worry about, certainly
nothing to seek medical attention for. These headaches always happened
interestingly after a big night out with a few drinks and lots of cigarettes.
This event has certainly been life changing as I was no longer able to return to my previous line of work, which I had done for roughly 25 years. I had always worked with my hands and relied on my level of fitness to get me through a working day. Prior to my stroke I was a 10 handicap golfer, a sport in which I may never return to, I do lament its passing. There is definitely a bullet point in my life; Life before the stroke & Life after, & occasionally never the twain shall meet.
As an interesting aside, I never experienced nicotine withdrawal symptoms being in an unconscious state for quite some time (some would say an easy quit) but in essence possibly one of the toughest things a human being can endure, it's been a long road back and I feel as if I've lost 4 years of my life thus far due, to my slavish passion for nicotine (what can I say, I was a commited smoker), & now am as equally committed the other way. It's interesting the amount of young guys i have had come up to me, particularly the ones who knew me before the stroke & they are always interested in hearing what's happened. I see their minds ticking over
& eventually recoiling in horror once they realise that could have been them. The message is simple, why run the risk, it can even happen to active people & moderatly fit people & you won't always see it coming. Thank you.
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