27-Year-Old New Bride Suffered A Stroke After Her Honeymoon And The Cause Of It Is Surprising
Sarah Revill -Dews was forced to teach herself how to read and write again after suffering a devastating stroke at the age of 27.
The young woman, from The Meadows, Nottingham, had just returned from her dream honeymoon in Sri Lanka and the Maldives when she suffered a painful headache in May 2017, but she just put it down to jet lag, The Sun Uk gathers.
Doctors initially just put it down to migraine – but she later discovered she had suffered a stroke, thanks to a combination of the contraception pill and the flight home. Sarah, now 28, returned to work as a project manager but as colleagues excitedly asked her about the wedding and honeymoon, she could only say: “It was Ok.”
Sarah had lost the ability to communicate; she was unable to speak, read or write.
”When I couldn’t speak properly I knew something was wrong. My colleagues called 111 and the first responder gave me an aspirin as he thought I’d had a stroke.
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However, when I got to hospital, they believed it was a migraine and I was discharged. ‘Fortunately the first responder had booked me in with the stroke ward the next day but even when we went to see the consultant, they didn’t believe I’d had a stroke until an MRI proved it.
No one seemed to think it could happen to a 27-year-old. It was a crushing moment to be told I’d had a stroke. My whole world just crashed around me.”
Sharing further, Sarah said it was a ‘process of elimination’ and the only thing that doctors believed could have triggered it was the contraceptive pill she had been taking.
The Stroke Association warns that ‘although the risk of a stroke in young women is generally low, pregnancy and contraceptive pills are both significant stroke risk factors.’
”I am very healthy,” Sarah said. ”I go to the gym every day. It was a very difficult initial four months of recovery, but I have the most amazing husband and family who supported me, whether that was taking me to appointments, making me do lots of crosswords and Sudoku to work my brain or taking me to Thai Chi classes to work on my balance.
At the time I felt quite isolated because I didn’t even think people of my age had strokes and I was very angry; wondering why me?
After having every test under the sun and seeing various consultants, it appears that my stroke was caused by a combination of the contraceptive pill and the flight home.”
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Sarah says she now wants to educate others to look out for the signs at a younger age – and is preparing to cycle 100 miles during the Prudential RideLondon to Surrey cycle, to raise vital funds for the Stroke Association.
She will be joined by her father, Robin Dews and her sister, Anna Dews.
Emma Evans, events manager at the Stroke Association, said:
”For many stroke survivors, getting their life back on track after a stroke means overcoming life-changing disabilities and emotional trauma. But they can’t do this on their own. Every day people across the UK are regaining their independence with the support of the Stroke Association and others.
We’re incredibly grateful to Sarah for taking on this gruelling challenge to help raise funds for people affected by stroke; she is a real inspiration and proof that there is life after stroke.”
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust did not wish to comment on individual cases, but said it followed routine procedures in the case of Mrs Revill-Dews.