Kimberley McGrath

I'm taking part in the Brighton Marathon as part of #TeamStroke

I joined #TeamStroke for the Brighton Marathon 2025.

As some of you may know my Dad suffered 3 strokes within the space of 10 days in 2021. 

As you can imagine it was absolutely devastating for him, and our family. 

My Dad had been a builder all his life, and was fiercely independent. Sadly with each stroke he deteriorated more, loosing not only the feeling down his right side but also his speech.

It has been an extremely long and challenging road for him, spending the best part of a year in hospital and rehab, and then the adjustment to the very different life after stroke. 

Sadly my Dad never regained his full mobility, so is no longer able to work or drive, he will always have compromised mobility on his right side, and heartbreakingly his speech never returned. 

Whilst my Dads independence has greatly reduced, he can still make you smile with his cheeky grin, his sense of humour remains unaltered, and he still makes the very best of everyday. None of that would have been possible without the support and guidance of the stroke association. 

There are over 1.3 million stroke survivors in the UK, with 100,000 strokes happening in the UK each year. That's one stroke every five minutes.

We're here to support people to rebuild their lives after stroke. We believe everyone deserves to live the best life they can after stroke, so we work with the stroke community to make sure people affected by stroke get the very best care and support. We rely on your support to provide vital services, campaign for better stroke care and fund research into preventative and rehabilitative treatments.