Kate’s Story Appears in the Daily Mail - Life After Stroke

Kate a nurse, had a stroke days before she was due to have a baby gave birth to her son while still paralysed. Kate Weaver was out shopping when she realised she was having a stroke. She managed to tell her husband that she needed to go to hospital moments before losing her ability to speak or move.

Doctors managed to stabilise her, but the family was faced with an agonising choice of whether to undergo a life-saving procedure which posed risks for both mother and baby. The procedure, called thrombolysis, involves the administration of a clot-busting drug. It had never been performed on a pregnant woman at the hospital – and there was a risk of Mrs Weaver and her baby suffering a brain haemorrhage. However, the family decided to go ahead.

Kate recovered her speech within four hours but remained almost totally paralysed down her left side. Just three days later with the help of an epidural, her son Toby was born weighing 6lb 11oz. Such was the scale of Mrs Weaver’s stroke, in September last year, that she had to learn to walk again. Toby was allowed to go home at a week old and his mother joined him at the family home in Wem, Shropshire, a week later where she began the long road to recovery.

Ten months on Kate and her husband Tim are delighted with the extent of her recovery. Kate undertook Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) pioneering at Physiofunction Northampton to help her walk again. Functional Electrical Stimulation targets the nerves and helps stimulates muscles which has been shown to help stroke victims who suffer from foot drop.

To read Kate's Case Study click here

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2673858/We-need-hospital-not-baby-Im-really-ill-Pregnant-nurse-stroke-week-date-gave-birth-paralysed.html#ixzz3mZxDvj2B