Portrait: Glen
I was 33 years old when I had my stroke. When I got to the hospital the doctor who greeted me at the door was one of my clients who is stroke specialist, so I knew they suspected that this might be the issue.
A little bit about Glen
I was 33 when I had my stroke. I am a personal trainer who ironically specialises in training people with health conditions. As we were in lockdown, I was training my clients online and, on my lunch break, I exerted myself which in retrospect caused the stroke. I lost my speech but it was only when I logged in for my next session that I realised that there was a problem. My girlfriend was walking our 7-week-old daughter at the time and when she got home, realising something was wrong, she immediately called an ambulance.
When I got to the hospital the doctor who greeted me at the door was one of my clients who is stroke specialist, so I knew they suspected that this might be the issue.
I was thrombolysed, which means a medication was used to break up the clot in my brain.
How my personal training background aided my recovery
I have made a full recovery using my knowledge and experience that I have built over the years in my own recovery. I focused my rehabilitation around balance, stability, strength, endurance and hand/foot eye coordination. Those are all techniques that I have used with clients to aid their recovery and I will continue to do so. Thankfully, my speech recovered over time as communication is an important aspect of my job.
Since my stroke
The cause of my stroke turned out to be a PFO (hole in the heart) which I had surgery on in July 2021. Three months after that I set a personal best 10k time. I do my best to make sure my issues haven't held me back but it's always in the back of my mind.