My name is Aidan Bradley and I suffered a stroke in 2021 at the age of 17. I am very thankful I have recovered as much as I have and I am now attending university studying technology and design. For my final year project I am designing and producing a gamified stroke rehabilition device to help all of us who have survived a stroke to regain mobility and strengthen our wrists, hands, and fingers.
I would love for you all to speak of your journey whilst recovering and how you felt during this journey.
I will start, I know during my recovery after over a week in hospital trying to learn to walk again I was fully determined to get back to my normal everyday life movement, little did i know this would only be the start of a long difficult journey. After I got home i started to love motivation, I got a few house visits and a few phone calls regarding my cover but i felt no progress and struggled to bring myself to do the boring excerises. I personally feel having a device I could bring around with me and get immediate feedback from wouldve motivated me more to continue my recovery. Would you have felt the same?
Hi & welcome to the community @Aidan.B. we had our Strokes in ghe same year but yij are significantly younger than me. Must have been a big shock for you. It was bad enough for me.
A bit like Pokémon Go combined with a Fitbit, is that the concept? I used video games as part of my rehabilitation routine, I still do. It’s an interesting project, generation wise, I am Xennial, so grew up when games went from stand-alone to online interactive and I taught aspects of gamification when I was a teacher of screen and media. Stroke wise, my rehabilitation needs are focussed on visual-spatial problems, I haven’t fully explored VR in this sense, I don’t really know why. I would try something of this nature using smart glasses with AI.
Hi Aidan, so sorry to hear of your stroke at such a young age but welcome to our community and I hope you will find this a useful place to be.
Thank you for sharing your inspirational story and well done done for attending university, that’s a massive achievement
I’m 8 years post stroke following a hemorrhagic stroke which paralysed my right side and I I no movement in my left arm and hand.
I currently use a piece of equipment on my left hand that sounds similar to what you are working on which is GRIPABLE. Unfortunately movement in my hand hasn’t improved but with my husband’s help I try to use it most days for 20 minutes or so.
Good luck with your project, with your lived experience in the stroke world you are the ideal person to develop something like this.
Thank you for sharing your story and for where you are now. One thing I most definitely became aware of whilst using this lovely forum was that everyone’s stroke impact and recovery journey would always be unique. Your recovery reads of good positivity, well done Sir!
I suffered a TIA in December 2022. It transpired an unknown genetic matter would see my BP hover around the 300 mark. My TIA occurred whilst I was in slumber. I was only aware of the event due to speech issues the next day followed by a trip to my GP - who found my BP to be sky high. I spent a week in hospital enjoying the company of wonderful staff, lovely food and a plethora of tests. It was months later that it was confirmed ‘no fault found’ so root cause was simply my body. Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be so damn healthy!
During my recovery, I had no major physical challenges but some niggles to understand, accept and ultimately work with. Initially, my speech was impaired to a minor degree. This improved in time but I also discovered the importance of sleep, hydration and eating. If I allowed any one (or more) to slip then a slur would occur. This has improved vastly over the years but I’ve also adapted. It’s funny how the choice of words can help, ensuring a good lung-full of air before speaking or just slowing down a smidge.
In addition my emotion chip was also fried somewhat, or at least this is how I used to joke about it and relay to others. Post TIA, I would laugh or cry unexpectedly. Again - and over time - the laughter part settled down and is no longer a challenge but the sadness part still gives me a kick at times. Even whilst being mentally in-control, a sad moment in a film (for example) can see me weep or attempting to converse about something sad or upsetting can be overwhelming for me. It’s funny, embarrassing and annoying at times. I’ve just had to accept it.
I’m not sure if my response gives you value per se but happy to chip-in
