Londonderry mum Lauren Duncan on newborn daughter Anna's 'traumatic' stroke
A Londonderry mum has spoken about the “traumatic” experience when her baby was diagnosed as having suffered a stroke just shortly after she was born.
Lauren Duncan, a 32-year-old mother-of-two, said her daughter Anna was born by emergency C-section at Altnagelvin Hospital on June 20 last year, and “almost immediately”, she and her husband Craig noticed something wasn’t right.
“She was doing really strange movements, her left hand would jerk, and her left leg would jerk, and her eyes were shaking, and then she would also vomit,” said Lauren, who is also mum to Emily.
"On day two of life she was transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), where she had loads of tests, and on day seven she had an MRI which highlighted the fact that she had had a stroke.
“Once the stroke was detected, everything was fast-paced. We were given an endless list of likelihoods for Anna’s development.
“It was very, very traumatic. Sometimes I think that we haven’t really processed it even to this day, but we're getting there, and she's doing well – we never expected her to do as well as she's doing, so that’s amazing. She's just a wee bundle of joy, and a real miracle. She's made our family better people.”
Now aged 16 months, Lauren said Anna is “all go” and she has met all her developmental milestones.
“The first thing they told us was that she might not smile, but she does smile and that is amazing. And she went to crawl, and she's walking independently. Obviously that took a lot of hard work, because she wasn't allowed any aids, and she wasn't allowed to have a walker, jumper, or anything, so it was really down to basics to get her moving, which was a lot of hard work, but it was so worth it in the end."
Anna’s progress continues to be closely monitored by a team of medics.
“She attends physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, and she is monitored closely with a neurologist in Belfast. She has a consultant in Altnagalvin, and then she has a team in the Gransha Child Development Clinic.”
Lauren is sharing her family’s experience on this World Stroke Day (October 29) and to highlight the support they received from the charity, Stroke Association.
In their darkest hours, Lauren and Craig contacted the charity’s Childhood Stroke Support Team.
“The lady on the call listened to me for hours and provided our whole family with support and guidance. I will be forever grateful for this call,” said Lauren.
Alasdair O’Hara, Northern Ireland director at the Stroke Association, said: “Every year more than 4,000 people in Northern Ireland face the devastating reality of having had a stroke. When that happens, the Stroke Association is here with support for every stroke survivor and their loved ones, for however long it takes. From the moment they enter the new and frightening post-stroke world, we’re here to help survivors find their strength and their way back to life.”
Stroke Association, which connects survivors with each other to improve recovery from stroke, has also highlighted new research which reveals that a quarter of stroke survivors say talking to others affected by stroke was the single most important part of their recovery.
In light of the research findings, it has launched Stroke Encounters – a series of three short films which will debut on the charity’s social media channels - to raise awareness this World Stroke Day. These films tell the stories of three people who’ve recently had a stroke, meeting with survivors further along in their recovery journey to talk to them about their experiences and offer help and advice for their recovery.
Lauren said: “We also received peer support from another mum on the same journey as us. She provided us with so much hope that our future would be brighter and happier times would come. She is a friend that I never knew I needed and in turn I can pass on her advice to more parents and care givers.”
The family said they’ll never know what caused Anna’s stroke, but early intervention was “crucial”.
“I don't think we'll ever find out why it happened,” said Lauren.
"It's just a really unfortunate event, that there's no clear indication of why it happened.”
And like many people, Lauren said she and Craig didn’t know babies could suffer stroke and now want to see the establishment of a childhood stroke register.
“I don't think you would hear about it until it's at your door. We want to raise awareness that this is happening a lot more frequently than we actually know, because there's no Childhood Stroke Register, there's no data on it, so this is what we really want to push for now, with the help of the Stroke Association and the Health Minister, to get a pathway in place, so that all these children are registered, and that there is data to prove that this has happened.”
The Stroke Association supports stroke survivors and their families by phone, at home, and in the community. Find out more at www.stroke.org.uk