My Auntie’s story;
Things changed for me on 14th January 2018 when I had my first stroke. As strokes go I was very lucky because after a few weeks of physiotherapy and occupational therapy I was physically almost back to normal. However the stroke left me with Aphasia – don’t worry I hadn’t heard of it either! After some quite intensive speech therapy I was introduced to the charity ‘Say Aphasia’, which has drop-in groups, mainly in the South of England, but which are now spreading throughout the country. Joining one of the drop-in groups was the best thing I could have done. It gave me the chance to meet other people with brain injuries caused by strokes, accidents or tumours, all of whom had speech problems. It made me realise just how lucky I am. I still have problems with numbers and find it difficult to add up or subtract. My speech has improved considerably, when I first had my stroke I could only say ‘elephant’, goodness only knows why. There are still some words I cannot say, including ironically ‘stroke’ and ‘Aphasia’, to the merriment of the drop-in group members.
There are around 350,000 people suffering from Aphasia throughout the country, with your help we could set up more drop-in groups and thus reach out to more people who are feeling isolated because of their speech or lack if it.
Monica.

Amy Rich