Reflecting on my mother’s stroke, one year on

THE first anniversary of my inspiring mother Maria’s stroke is just days away. You may know her as a performer and charity queen. I know her as my Mum and best friend.

As I reflect on the year that has been, so many emotions surface – pride, hope, anger, frustration, exhaustion and most importantly love.

While Mum has made amazing progress in her recovery, it has been a slow process and there is still such a long road ahead for her, for us. What happened on November 5, 2016 changed both our lives forever.

I was told that the stroke mum suffered was one of the worst hemorrhagic bleeds the intensive care nurses had even seen. It savaged the left side of her brain.

At first we didn’t know if she would survive, but Mum is a fighter; she hasn’t and won’t give up.

When I asked about recovery potential based on the best they had seen for a bleed like this, the doctor replied that they hadn’t. People who have a bleed like Mum’s don’t even make it out of the ambulance, I was told.

So I knew from the very beginning, that in true Maria Venuti style, she was forging her own path to show everyone what was possible.

In an instant, Mum went from being a vibrant and vivacious entertainer (we had been in Melbourne for the Cup just days before) to not being able to comprehend, talk, walk or even swallow.

But Mum never lost her spark, no matter how tough things got, her spirit has shone through. While she can’t get her point across with words, she talks with her eyes and expressions, and this drives us both forward.

Mum spent six weeks in intensive care, then over four months in rehabilitation before she was able to come home. Of course she could no longer live alone at her house. She now requires ongoing 24/7 care at her now wheelchair accessible home with me.

It is so good to have her out of hospital and in the types of environments she enjoys. I am relishing the opportunity to give Mum back the love and a little of the care she has provided to me all my life.

We have good days, bad days and days where we feel like we are just treading water, sometimes even drowning a little.

The reality is we are in the process of finding a “new normal” and it’s a huge challenge.

Stroke is brutal, but Mum is larger than life and so much bigger than her stroke.

One person has a stroke in Australia every nine minutes. It can strike at any age, changing lives in an instant. The real impact of stroke is far reaching. It doesn’t just impact the survivor, it changes families.

Stroke is largely preventable, it can be treated and it can be beaten. Two key risk factors for stroke that we can change are high blood pressure and physical inactivity.

Go to your local pharmacy, or have your blood pressure checked when you are next at the GP.

By introducing lifestyle changes like eating healthily and moving more, you can reduce your stroke risk.

Find out more about stroke at strokefoundation.org.au and about World Stroke Day at worldstrokecampaign.org.

October 29 marked World Stroke Day and was a few days away from the first anniversary of well-known entertainer and charity queen Maria Vanuit’s stroke. Maria’s daughter Bianca authored the above editorial reflecting on the last year.