Laura Scullion

I'm taking part in the Great North Run 2025 as part of #TeamStroke

I joined #TeamStroke for the Great North Run 2025. It’s something very dear to me and my family. Have a little read below. 

In November 2018 my mum had a devastating haemorrhagic stroke which flipped my families world upside down. My first born son Noah had just turned 2 months old, my sisters baby wasn’t even 2 weeks old, my young brother was in the middle of his studies and my eldest brother lived far away in Australia. The impact it had on all of us still affects us to this very day.

She then went on to have a further stroke in January 2019. It disabled her physically but also affected her ability to communicate. One of the things that stroke association did in order to help us as a family, was offer a £300 grant in order for my mum to obtain an iPad to communicate with us. Unfortunately just before we could order it, our mum died from complications of her stroke 4 months later. My mum worked full time, entirely independent and within a blink of an eye it was all taken from her and her loved ones. 

The story about my mum is emotive and devastating and something we have to live with as a family. Her stroke came at a critical point in my life. I became a mum and at the same time I lost my own. Unfortunately a stroke doesn’t wait for anyone. It strikes at any given point and this is why we need services like stroke association in place to help. Knowing that there was specialist support available to us when we needed it was a huge comfort. They wouldn’t have been able to offer it to us without funding so this is why I’m asking for any donation possible. Every little helps. 

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.