SameYou Advocate Chiara speaks at the UK Stroke Forum
SameYou Advocate, Chiara Beer, took part in a panel discussion focused on young stroke survivors at the UK Stroke Forum, outlining the challenges to healthcare professionals.
Chiara attended the event in Liverpool on December 4 which discussed support, careers and the psychological impact of stroke.
Chiara was almost 3 years old when she suffered a stroke from the chickenpox virus. This resulted in right hand side hemiplegia and severe dyslexia.
Now aged 29, she is not able to use her right-hand arm at all and does day-to-day tasks one-handed. Raising awareness of stroke in young people is important to Chiara to support them in learning to live with a brain injury and disability and helps raise awareness through her YouTube channel.
SameYou is part of the UK Stroke Forum, a coalition of 31 organizations who are all committed to improving care in the UK.
Chiara said: “It was a great event. I felt it was so helpful for stroke care professionals to hear our lived experience and they were able to ask the panel questions.
“The audience were really interested to hear our discussion - the room was full. It was also good to meet other survivors.”
The forum, which is the UK’s largest multidisciplinary conference for stroke care professionals, brings members together to learn from each other and share new ideas and best practice.
It also promotes shared research and knowledge exchange between the clinical and scientific disciplines that have an interest in stroke.
Chiara added: “The audience asked me about the transition from going from pediatrics to adult health services, and if there could have been more communication.
“As a panel, we all had different experiences of stroke. There’s a shocked face that people give me when I say I had a stroke from chickenpox. People in the room had that shocked face.
“The panel was also asked if they were embarrassed about having a stroke. I said I was, as a child. I was really embarrassed. But not as I have got older. I am happy to speak about my experiences and help others to navigate recovery after a stroke.”