[appollo1]

I am not on about road signs and this is a serious posting. I am not after sympathy but i just want to make you all aware and ask you to please look out for the signs and make yourself familiar with them.

Most of you I have never met and a lot of you that are friends (whether i have met you or not) on facebook already know what has happened to me and my family over the weekend.

On Saturday i was out food shopping with my wife and kids. When we got home i went out to start sorting the garden as i hate putting shopping away. My wife said something to me which i didn't understand and i thought she was just being sarcastic about me never helping to put the shopping away.

About 3 or 4 minutes later my 7 year old son who had been helping Charlie (wife) with the shopping came out to the garden and told me that "mummy was talking funny and really upset". When i went into the kitchen she was sat on the floor and unable to speak properly and very disorientated. i recognised the signs straight away and dialled 999.

Within minutes the ambulance arrived and after a quick assessment whisked her away to hospital. Within an hour she had been assessed and been taken for a CT scan.

Charlie had had a stroke. She did not have a bleed but had a blockage somewhere. She was taken straight to the Acute Stoke Ward and given a drip with medicine to help move/breakdown the blockage.

Thankfully today she has some mobility back but her speech is still really bad. The kids and I are taking one day at a time.

Charlie is 38 years old.

I am asking you all to please please please, read up about the signs and symptoms of Strokes. Thankfully I have had a lot of medical training and knew what it was straight away and i am not saying that you don't know as some of you probably will. All i ask is if you don't know please read up and learn to recognise the signs as medically there is a window of about 3 hours to get help.

Like i said I am not after sympathy just for you all to please take a minute to recognise the signs so you can get help straight away.

As an Emergency Responder i would rather attend a job where someone wasn't sure than go to a job where someone didn't think there was anything wrong until it is too late.

Thank you for reading this.