Motivational Sneakers

It’s time for me to rattle the can in the name of stroke prevention once again, this time without Dad to do the heavy lifting he so often did, fearless in his efforts to spread the word to all who would listen. Firstly, may I say thank you for your past support and please don’t feel obligated to donate. I completely understand the pressures we all face from the constant asking for us to spare some of our hard earned!

This year was supposed to bring a sense of triumph, I’d discussed it many times with Dad as we did the rounds this time last year asking for your help. “2024 would mark 5 years since my stroke, a solid foundation on my new work front with 3 years under the belt as a sole trader and a few more steps forward in working towards stroke prevention in the community.”

Then the unthinkable happened - Dad suffered his own stroke in July and 7 weeks later he’d leave us, with the damage having proved insurmountable.

Living with stroke is hard, even when you come out the other side relatively intact. But watching a loved one go through it is indescribable. There were moments in between that gave us reason to be grateful, he rallied enough in the weeks that followed to overcome an almost complete loss of his communication abilities (Aphasia) to speak to us for short periods and call us by name, and even when the fatigue robbed him of that little sense of a return of his self, he was definitely able to make his love for his family profoundly clear.

Dad took the message of stroke prevention seriously and couldn’t be prouder than when he was calling up to say more donations were coming through so once again, thank you for your support to date.

Dad had atrial fibrillation (AF), one of a number of known risk factors for stroke and he was following the instructions to minimise his risk. We don’t know why he had one, but it is important to note that that AF significantly ups your chances of an ischaemic stroke (clot from outside the brain travels and blocks blood supply) and he had a haemorrhagic stroke (bleed inside the brain). So I guess it illustrates the point of how vital continuing research is.

Once again, Tasmanian Iconic Walks is raising funds for the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, specifically for a new program currently under development for stroke prevention. This year’s walk is on Saturday, 6th April and we will be undertaking the 14km Tarn Shelf Circuit at Mt Field

I struggle knowing that we’ve consistently trodden the same path, often asking the same people over and again for help. But I’m here to do it again and this time I can say that I’m not just asking and hoping the money makes a difference. I’ve spent a good bit of time over the last few months in concert with other survivors and experts in the various fields of medicine linked to stroke on the model for this program. I can’t say much about the content or the format (as the process for measuring the success of new measures is quite strict) and it has to move into a trial phase next before hopefully becoming available globally in the next couple of years. For me though, it provides a clear path from the often quoted statistic that 80% of strokes currently occurring are preventable to actually providing the necessary education so that people will take the (surprisingly easy) steps to change their life course and avoid having one. To make these numbers more real, consider them alongside the current fact that 1 in 4 adults will have a stroke in their lifetime.

Place yourself in a room of 20 people, it’s easy enough to imagine all the faces in a group that size. The current expectation is that 5 of those people will have a stroke at some point in their lifetime, 4 of them don’t have to! Incredibly, the means to avoid most strokes are through simple measures- some people will need medication while most can improve their circumstances through increased exercise and adjustments to diet.

I have to encourage you in the strongest possible terms to make an appointment with your GP and ask for a Heart Health Check, it is bulk billable for over 45s (if your doctor provides that service) and will give you a good indication of where you need to steer a bit of attention in your own health journey. Knowing your blood pressure is key, many pharmacies will check it for you if you can’t see a doctor easily. If it is found to be high, please follow up!

Please extend this advice to your friends and family too, we will not see a change in stroke numbers until we see people taking the idea of preventative health care seriously and personally.

If you have the means, I would very much appreciate your support once again this year in helping fund this research because I’m convinced that the sooner we can see those figures move on preventable strokes, the more can be done to understand the causes of the other 20% and find ways to help avoid them too.


Thanks for visiting my Fundraising Page for Tasmanian Iconic Walks 2024 - Prevent Stroke fundraiser!