‘Fit and healthy' woman, 22, left fighting for life after freak ‘blistering pain' struck suddenly paralysing her
The fit and healthy 22-year-old was paralysed, having also suddenly lost the ability to speak and was 'only able to blink' as a means of communicating with her terrified family.
13
Saskia was visiting her grandma on April 21 when disaster struck and she was floored by the sharp pain in her head.
The business owner was rushed to A&E where doctors made not one but two devastating discoveries.
Saskia, who lives in Gloucester, Gloucestershire, said: "I had absolutely no symptoms or changes in my health.
"There was literally nothing to suggest it was going to happen until the day that it happened.
"I had just arrived at my grandma's and got a blistering pain in my head.
'It hit me like a sharp pain and then I could almost hear a flat line beeping in my head.
"It was so consuming, I couldn't think about anything else.
"My dad told me to go lie down and I immediately threw up. I could basically only blink.
"I couldn't really move. If I stood up, I would've just collapsed.
"I knew that something wasn't right but as soon as my speech started to go, I couldn't communicate that with anyone.
I battled mystery headaches for ten years - doctors thought I'd had a stroke but it was something much rarer
"I was really frightened when I was unable to talk. I thought I needed medical attention but didn't know why.'
Aware something was gravely wrong, Saskia's dad rushed his daughter to Gloucester Royal Hospital's A&E, before she was transferred to Southmead Hospital's intensive care unit in Bristol.
It was there that medics discovered Saskia had a significant bleed in her brain that had caused a stroke.
But more bad news was to come. Further tests revealed she was also suffering from a rare brain condition known as arteriovenous malformation (AVM).
13
An AVM is a tangle of blood vessels in the brain or on the brain's surface which causes blood to bypass normal tissues.
Most people with AVM have no initial symptoms or notice any problems. But when an AVM ruptures, it can prove deadly.
In Saskia's case the AVM had ruptured, causing a bleed which then turned into a blood clot.
The 22-year-old underwent a seven-hour craniotomy operation to remove the AVM and the surrounding blood clot.
After losing her speech for two weeks, she has now made a partial recovery and her speech has gradually returned.
Saskia was able to go home after two weeks in hospital but she is still suffering long-term effects, including fatigue and mobility issues, months later.
"I'm such a chatterbox I thought nothing is going to stop me from speaking,' she says.
"A load of my head is numb now. I get shooting pains where my scar is and my whole head aches but other than that I'm very lucky I don't have any other defects.
"When I got my speech back it was gradual.
'It was frustrating that I couldn't get my point across and sometimes it takes me a while to answer. It's still coming back.
"I've made a strong recovery but if I go long distance, I need a wheelchair.
"Everyone kept saying I was lucky and I feel grateful I survived and I can walk and talk. It could've been fatal.'
13
13
13
Saskia also had to reckon with her family's concern for her.
"When they told me how serious it was, I was more worried about how my family would take the news,' she said.
"They said it was the worst day of their lives and thought I might not make it through.
"My family thought I was going to die when they were told [I had an AVM]."
Saskia said she was 'stubborn and determined [she] wanted to do things" while recovering from her ordeal.
But she's had to learn to take things more slowly.
What are the symptoms of stroke?
The FAST method – which stands for Face, Arms, Speech, Time – is the easiest way to remember the most common symptoms of stroke:
F = Face drooping - if one side of a person's face is dropped or numb then ask them to smile, if it's uneven then you should seek help.
A = Arm weakness - if one arm is weak or numb then you should ask the person to raise both arms. If one arm drifts downwards then you might need to get help
S = Speech difficulty - if a person's speech is slurred then this could be a sign of a stroke
T = Time to call 999 - if a person has the signs above then you need to call 999 in the UK or 911 in the US for emergency care.
Other symptoms include:
sudden weakness or numbness on one side of the body
difficulty finding words
sudden blurred vision or loss of sight
sudden confusion, dizziness or unsteadiness
a sudden and severe headache
difficulty understanding what others are saying
difficulty swallowing
"This is the worst thing I've ever gone through. I've never gone through anything like this.
"I thought I'd be back to work in two weeks but I still can't do most things so that definitely isn't an option for a while.
"I'm just taking it day by day."
Now, Saskia wants to warn others about the importance of listening to their body.
"I was born with my AVM. A lot of people go their whole life without knowing. I had no idea I had this.
"I'm kind of lucky I had it when I did because recovery is so much easier when you're younger.
"I would say to other people your age doesn't protect you from anything so listen to your body. You know if something is severely wrong."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
18 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Graham Thorpe asked his wife to help him end his life after his mental health 'spiralled' following Covid lockdowns and being sacked from his England coaching job, inquest hears
England cricket legend Graham Thorpe's mental health was 'spiralling down' after a combination of Covid lockdowns and being sacked from the English Cricket Board (ECB), his heartbroken widow said today. Amanda Thorpe described how the Surrey lefthander begged her to help him to die as he struggled to cope with anxiety and depression. He attempted to take his own life in a hotel in 2022, after losing his coaching job with the ECB after a video involving the England Ashes players on tour in Australia – which Thorpe filmed – was leaked. The former Surrey lefthander, who dazzled with the bat during a glittering career for club and country, was killed when he was struck by a train near his home on August 4 last year. He was 55 years old. Mrs Thorpe told her husband's inquest in Woking: 'He asked me to help him end his life. 'He said he wants to go to Switzerland. I was in turmoil. 'Then we get a letter for an appointment (with the medical team) in a month's time. 'How ill do you have to be?' Thorpe's wife, his father Geoff, and brothers Alan and Ian were all present for the hearing. Addressing them, assistant coroner Jonathan Stevens said: 'I appreciate this is an incredibly difficult time for you as a family.' The coroner, referring to Mrs Thorpe's witness statement, described how 'up until the time of Covid there were no psychological issues'. He said: 'You explain Graham found lockdown and Covid very difficult, very stressful for him.' Mrs Thorpe said: 'Up until 2020, no there wasnt anything in particular. 'Maybe in 2018 he had a bout of depression but he got through that, it didn't affect his job.' Thorpe's father Geoff, 83, agreed, adding: 'Everything was fine until Covid.' He told the inquest: 'What you've got to realise is sometimes us chaps are a little bit macho – we can cope. 'In fact, we can't.' Referring to the Covid restrictions, he said: 'He's not a fella who likes to be couped up.' Mr Thorpe senior described how his son's 'life came crashing down' when he lost his job with the ECB. The coroner described how Thorpe 'had his ups and downs with stress and anxiety' in 2021, but then there was the prospect of the Ashes tour in 2021/2 where the Covid restrictions in Australia were much stricter than in the UK. Referring to Mrs Thorpe's statement, he said: 'You say the environment of Covid was not good for him, would make his psychological condition worse. 'You mention on that Tour there was an incident involving a video that was taken that drew a lot of adverse publicity. 'You make the observation that he shouldn't have been allowed to go to Australia, and it was inevitable there was going to be a deterioration in his mental health.' Mrs Thorpe said: 'Thinking about it, because he went on that Tour, he was dismissed. 'If he hadn't been on that Tour, then he wouldn't be dismissed and that was ultimately what he couldn't deal with.' The coroner said Thorpe tried to take his own life with a cocktail of medication and alcohol in the middle of 2022. He said: 'Things continued to go downhill, he was really struggling, had anxiety and insomnia and it was all really dark.' Thorpe spent three weeks unconscious in hospital after the suicide attempt. He suffered a stroke, and was in intensive care for five weeks. He went to a private hospital, paid for by the ECB, but his mental health did not improve. He was offered a coaching role with the Afghanistan national team but could not go because of his mental health issues. Mrs Thorpe told the inquest: 'He tried to do it but he was spiralling down. 'He signed a contract and I had to tell them he was too unwell to do that job.' Thorpe tried various types of therapy including electro-compulsive therapy, but that 'didn't seem to work', the inquest heard. He made repeated threats to kill himself, including throwing himself in front of a train, his father said. Mrs Thorpe said: 'He told me he was scared, and I told him I was scared too because I didn't know how to help him.' By June 2024, Thorpe 'had no interest in food, he wanted to hide away, totally isolated, in real crisis and despair', the inquest heard. The coroner described how Thorpe left the family home on the morning of August 4 2024 and was not seen alive again. Referring to Mrs Thorpe's witness statement, he said: 'You had been upstairs on the phone and Graham had gone out. 'You thought he had gone to walk the dog but then you saw the dog. 'You tried to locate him using your phone but weren't able to do that. 'Then you got a call from Geoff telling you: he's gone.' Mrs Thorpe said: 'He never really recovered from (his first suicide) attempt. 'He came back from the tour of Australia in a terrible state - lots of things, the video, the environment, the set-up. 'To be sacked after that I think it was foreseeable that it would be really really hard on him. 'The weeks leading up to his death, he told me he doesn't want to be here any more. 'He asked me to help him end his life. 'He said he wants to go to Switzerland. I was in turmoil. 'Then we get a letter for an appointment (with the medical team) in a month's time. 'How ill do you have to be? I just wish he could have been kept safe. If you're not here, there's no hope.' The father-of-four was considered a talisman for England, and was a veteran of 100 Test matches between 1993 and 2005. But he also spent years battling anxiety and depression, and believed his wife Amanda and children Henry, Amelia, Kitty and Emma were better off without him. Thorpe was born in Farnham, Surrey, and showed early promise as a footballer - even being offered trials at Brentford - but was already involved in the under-11s set-up at his home county cricket club. He did not look back. Thorpe would go on to become one of the most revered batsmen of his generation, a rare bright spark in an England team which often failed to deliver. His swashbuckling style and distinctive headband made him popular with fans new and old. And he set records along the way - becoming the first England batter for 20 years to score 100 runs on his Test debut, doing so against a Shane Warne-inspired Australia at Trent Bridge in Nottinghamshire in 1993. He would become only the eight man to reach 100 Test caps for England, scoring 6,744 runs at an average of 44.66. But he was also plagued by demons. In 2002, the year he scored the third fastest double-century in Test history, Thorpe took a 12-month break from cricket as he left a tour of India amid turmoil in his first marriage due to his cheating that led to a bitter divorce and a battle with suicidal depression and alcoholism. Thorpe admitted later after he flew back from touring India to try to save his first marriage: 'There came a time when I would have given back all my Test runs and Test caps just to be happy again.' Mrs Thorpe said in an interview after his death that despite having a wife and children whom he loved and who loved him, 'he did not get better'. His wife said: 'He was so unwell in recent times and he really did believe that we would be better off without him and we are devastated that he acted on that and took his own life.' Thorpe will be honoured during the final Test match against India at The Oval next month to raise awareness of mental health. Day two of the fifth Test will be called 'A Day for Thorpey' in support of charity Mind. It falls on August 1, which would have been Thorpe's 56th birthday. Thorpe's inquest is due to last until Friday.
The Independent
19 minutes ago
- The Independent
How much resident doctors really earn as they plan to strike over NHS pay
Resident doctors will go ahead with a five-day strike this week after talks between the British Medical Association (BMA) and the government broke down. The BMA rejected the government's offer of a 5.4 per cent pay rise this year and is calling for a 29 per cent pay rise, claiming doctors have seen a 20 per cent pay erosion in their salaries since 2008. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, described the strike action as 'completely unjustified'. He added: 'It shows a complete disdain for patients and the wider recovery of the NHS.' The BMA said the health secretary's offer did not go far enough on pay. The walkout will run from Friday, 25 July, until the following Wednesday, with further strikes threatened every month until January unless their pay demands are met. Resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, are qualified doctors in their first years of training. A fifth are completing their first two foundation years, while the remainder are in core or speciality registrar training. The newly agreed salary for those on foundation training is between £38,831 and £44,439, with specialist training salaries rising to £73,992. That includes the 5.4 per cent increase awarded earlier this year, but does not include London weighting. The BMA wants pay boosted to between £47,308 and £54,274 for foundation doctors, and up to a maximum of £90,989 for residents in specialist training at the highest end, over a flexible negotiated period. The NHS Confederation estimates that every 0.1 per cent pay rise across the NHS will cost the health service an extra £125 million each year. While the pay rise being requested is only for resident doctors, who account for 75,000 of the workforce, the difference between what the BMA is requesting and what is currently paid could cost millions or even billions. How much are residents paid compared to other doctors? Resident doctors' current salary of between £38,831 and £44,439 a year is for a 40-hour week, and does not include extra pay for working more hours or night shifts, which varies significantly per person. Doctors in core or specialist training can earn £52,656 a year, going on to earn up to £73,992 a year at the highest end. The government has said that this sits at around an average of £54,300 across resident doctors of all stages of training. Meanwhile, consultants, who have specialist knowledge in a particular medical field, earn a basic salary of between £105,504 and £139,882 a year. After two years of foundation training, it generally takes around five to eight more years before doctors can become eligible for consultant roles, though the wait can be longer. Nurses start at a lower salary band, around £31,049 for a newly-qualified nurse, according to the NHS' Agenda for Change. This can go up to £54,710 for ward managers, and £96,0000 for the most senior specialist nurses. Dentists employed by the NHS start at £42,408 a year and progress to £94,000 for the most senior roles and £105,000 for dental consultants. This puts resident doctors in a similar starting range to dentists, and 22 per cent higher than nurses. How far is pay behind inflation? Inflation is central to the BMA's demands, arguing that even after the uplift, pay for resident doctors has been eroded by 20.9 per cent since 2008. With the current 5.4 per cent uplift, the BMA says doctors won't see their pay restored for 12 years, or until 2036. Instead, resident doctors are seeking a 29 per cent pay rise, which Mr Streeting has called 'completely unreasonable'. However, the BMA's figures are calculated using retail prices index (RPI) inflation, which is no longer used as a national statistic. This includes factors such as housing prices, council tax, and mortgage rates. Using the official measure of inflation, consumer prices index (CPI), the Nuffield Trust calculated that doctors' pay has fallen by a more moderate 4.7 per cent in the same period. In cash terms, excluding inflation, foundation-year resident doctors have seen a substantial pay boost in recent years. First year foundation doctors were paid just £29,384 in 2022; which means the new 5.4 per cent uplift amounts to an overall 32 per cent pay rise on that figure. While 2022 saw a four-decade-high rate of inflation, and doctors' salaries had already been falling behind, this is a more sizeable increase than seen by other public sectors. Nurses, for example, have seen starting salaries rise by just 14.8 per cent in the same period, less than half the rate of resident doctors. Doctors' pay compared to other public sectors Doctors and medical staff provide essential public services. So, how does their pay compare to police and firefighters? According to the Firefighters Union (FU), a trainee will earn around £28,265 a year, bumped up to £37,675 once they become a fully 'competent' firefighter in 1-3 years. At this point, overtime is paid at £25.80 per hour. Firefighters generally work a two-day, two-night shift pattern, with four days off in between. The highest salary for 'area manager' firefighters is at £69,283, according to the FU; not including London weighting. Meanwhile, figures from the Police Federation suggest that constables begin on £29,907 a year (without London weighting), rising to £48,000 for the highest pay band. Chief Inspectors can earn as much as £72,700 in London at the highest range. This suggests that resident doctors start at a moderately higher salary range, with more potential for upward movement. But comparing these fields of work is a challenge. Doctors must complete several years of medical school before qualifying. This saddles many doctors with debt before entering the workforce - something which is not a requirement for other emergency services, including firefighters and police. Low doctor pay compared to other countries In France, most doctors are self-employed, except for a minority who are directly employed by hospitals. Starting salaries are already expected to be around £3,400 per month, tallying at £40,800 a year. The average salary for a general practitioner is £84,000, according to data from the public health service. This can go up to as high as £350,000 for radiotherapists. In Canada, low starting salaries for doctors are around £46,000, according to national data. But average salaries sit around £122,000, with peak pay at £236,000 a year. The US has the highest salaries for doctors overall, with significant variation by state. Since private healthcare pay is unstandardised, it is hard to directly compare starting salaries. But resident doctors in the US are paid on average between £51,000 and £86,000, according to Glassdoor, with some surgeons earning upwards of £500,000 a year. It is important to note that the NHS is relatively unique because it is funded by the taxpayer. Canada has a similar system, which covers 70 per cent of healthcare spending, known as Medicare. Most doctors are paid in a fee-for-service model, not a set salary. France has a reimbursement model where patients mostly pay upfront, and may be partially or fully refunded by the state. And the US has some form of free health insurance, known as Medicaid; but this covers a shrinking fraction of the population. Ultimately, doctors are privately paid through forms of insurance, even if the state subsidises some healthcare. In this way, the UK is somewhat unique in how the taxpayer shoulders the burden of public healthcare salaries, excluding private doctors.
The Independent
19 minutes ago
- The Independent
New data lifts lid on agonising wait for mental health treatment
Nearly 1.7 million patients are currently awaiting community mental health care in the UK, with 48,000 people facing delays exceeding two years for treatment to commence. This figure, which rose from 1.3 million in March 2024, is in addition to the 7.4 million people on the NHS physical health waiting list. Dr Lade Smith, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, warned that mental health care is being rationed and downgraded, not prioritised by the government. The government's recently launched 10-year NHS plan recommits to expanding mental health teams and specialist A&Es but lacks specific commitments to reduce existing waiting lists. The lack of sufficient community care is forcing more patients into A&E, as highlighted by the NHS's director for mental health and a mother whose autistic daughter was hospitalised due to lack of community support.
