It takes a lot to knock members of the Fermanagh Chest Heart and Stroke weekly Stroke Club out of its stride. It meets every Thursday, at 2.15 in the Lakeland Forum, Enniskillen as a social get-together and for physical exercises in the Forum gym.
Dolores O'Sullivan, from Enniskillen was 36 when she had her stroke. She was then a widow, her husband, John having died when their children were 2 and 4. They were 10 and 12 when she fell in the bathroom as she as getting ready for bed.
"The children heard me falling and they got a neighbour, Joy to come and lift me. Joy, who is also a good friend, phoned for the ambulance. I was unconscious until Joy came. The stroke arose from a clot. It was a severe stoke for it paralysed my left-hand side, and I couldn't speak or swallow".
In fact, Dolores was in hospital for three months and, because she was attending Dr Varma with a heart condition, she spent all that time in Medical Ward.
"They started me on a rehabilitation programme to help me regain my speech and move and eat. At the start, it was ice-cream and soup. Yes, depression definitely set in. There I was lying on my back, with two kids to think about".
But, there was the positive side as well, not least her regular visitors, her brothers and their wives, her children and, not forgetting her friend, Joy who also looked after the kids for her.
"I cannot say enough about the nurses. They made you feel as if you were at home, and nothing was too much for them.
"They didn't make you feel as if you were a burden, as you would do at home when you're on your own".
Once discharged, Dolores continued her physiotherapy at home and joined the Stroke Club that was formed four years ago, at Easter, 2004.
Its leader, Norma Ferguson, Derrygonnelly is the Stroke Scheme Coordinator who also runs the Wednesday stroke scheme for members like Dolores and Tom McPhillips. It is based in the Lakeland Youth Centre in Enniskillen (not far from the Forum), from 10am-12 noon.
Tom, from Lisbellaw, was a lorry driver with McCaffrey's Quarries who is something of a miracle man. In 1995 he suffered a heart attack and, in the following year, he underwent a successful quadruple by-pass. He resumed driving until 2003 when he had his stroke, at the age of 53.
"It paralysed me down the left side as well", he recalled, "but I didn't lose my speech. I was in hospital from March until June and, when I was discharged, I was one of the first Stroke Club members".
Although Tom medically cannot drive a lorry anymore, he did resume driving a car, having passed a special driving test in Dungannon, despite his paralysed left arm. Dolores remarried and her husband, Eamon helps Norma Ferguson run the Stroke Club. She can walk, but has no feeling in her left foot, describing the sensation as like a sleeping foot. The two - there are four more in the Stroke Club, and new faces are welcome - obviously relate easily with Norma who explained that the weekly sessions comprise a cup of tea to start with and then an hour's gentle work-out in the Forum gym, two hours in all. "There are about 16 members in it. They come in, we have a cup of tea and a chat and we have a variety of activities, flower arranging, crafts and bowls".
