David Dawson - The Story So Far (18 Nov 2005)

Hello, my name is David Dawson and after months of reading the stories of other stroke victims I have decided to tell mine. My story is a bit long and in parts questions belief but I assure you that it is a true and accurate account.

I am 52 years old, nearly 53, and suffered my stroke on 27 September 2004.

I do appreciate the fact that I am still here and able to tell the tale, things could have been much worse.

I was self employed for 25 years and ran a single handed garage repair business in Newcastle upon Tyne. In these 25 years I had taken not one day off work for illness and had not been in my doctor's surgery until after I suffered the stroke.

On the day I had the stroke, at about 2. p.m. , I was driving a customer's car when I collided with three other vehicles parked on the roadside (no serious damage) which I must say gave me rather a shock as I could not understand why this had happened.

Someone called the police who arrived and breathalysed me (obviously negative) and then arrested me on suspicion of taking drugs as they did not like my "demeanour", as they put it. Mention was made of handcuffs although they were never actually used. It was a little amusing really as my wife; son and father are all pharmacists, my wife and I actually having owned a pharmacy for five years, although I don't suppose that matters really.

At this point I was totally confused and worried but strangely enough did not feel ill. This all took place incidentally, about 500 yards from Newcastle's Freeman hospital where it transpired I was to spend that night and the next three weeks. For the time being though I was off to the police station.

I was kept in the police station for a total of six hours, most of this time in a police cell, which I assure you is not very pleasant. The police surgeon was called and he duly examined and questioned me, then signed to say that I was fit to be detained for interview, so back to my cell I went for a further couple of hours. This man's performance was woeful, he concluded that I had coordination problems and advised me to seek medical attention the next day. He totally missed the stroke, talk about money for nothing!

I had managed to phone my wife after being "admitted" to the police station but couldn't really let her know what was going on, mainly because I was "out of it". While she was madly phoning the police trying to find out what was going on my father and one son went to the station to get information. They were told nothing at first but eventually found out that I was there but had not yet been interviewed.

At about 9 in the evening I was released after interview and my sons took me home. One officer asked my younger son "Is your dad always like this?"

On arriving home my mother and father had arrived and the family insisted on getting my very good friend and next door neighbour, who is a professor of medicine in Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary, to have a look at me. He arrived and along with my G.P. (another friend) took probably less than five seconds to diagnose a stroke. An ambulance was called and I was in the Freeman hospital within 30 minutes.

A CAT scan confirmed the stroke, a right parietal bleed and my family were told that the next 48 hours would be vital and an operation possibly required, fortunately it was not.

I spent the next three weeks in the Freeman and can only say that my treatment was excellent, great staff, great place, not that I want to return, you understand.

Days after the accident my wife received a phone call from the police saying that they had some very good news for her, on asking what this was she was told that they were not going to prosecute me! Isn't it amazing how kind and understanding the Northumbria police force are! My sons took my documents to the station as I had been given a "producer" by the police. The police were very reluctant to believe that I was in hospital as I should have presented the documents myself, they wanted details of ward number, hospital etc. Is it any wonder that many people have lost respect for the constabulary?

I was released from hospital on 18 October 2004 and on returning home the brilliant treatment continued with visits from occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech therapists, psychologists, and me visiting a neuropsychologist. I also had the pleasure of having an angiogram in December 04. I am now on medication for blood pressure control as it was high at the time of the stroke but exactly why I had the bleed remains in question.

A follow up CAT scan in February 05 led a young registrar to put the fear of death into me and my wife when he suggested that an abnormality on the scan may be caused by a brain tumour and they gave me an MRI scan two days later. The results of the scan were going to take about a week which seemed like an eternity but fortunately what he had seen was the blood clot being absorbed by the brain Was I relieved!

A further MRI scan in June 05 still showed an abnormality which they say may be due to a cavenoma ( a malformation of blood vessels) which can bleed and could be the cause of the original problem.

I am now waiting for an appointment for a further scan, I think my consultant is trying to get me the British Brain Scan record! so we'll wait and see what happens.

You may ask what happened to work in all of this?

Well I cannot return to my self employment as it was too physical, furthermore I now can't drive as the stroke damaged my visual nerves resulting in a visual field defect and I also suffer from left side inattention which means that I often "miss" things to my left, causing me to trip over or collide with obstacles. I am most at risk crossing roads when I have to be ultra cautious.

I did receive incapacity benefit for the first six months after the stroke then in June I was sent to see a DSS doctor who decided that I was fit enough to work You need to score 15 points on your personal capability assessment to qualify for benefit, I scored 0. I can walk, talk get washed etc. no problem, but I don't see properly! The next step was to appeal and meanwhile claim jobseeker's allowance and of course sign on every fortnight.

The fact that you may have a current sick note doesn't really matter, refuse a job and your benefit is stopped, (which in my case didn't really matter as they ended up giving me nothing anyway!).

Well surprise! surprise! I didn't qualify for this as I hadn't paid enough class 1 contributions, being self employed, I had paid only class 2, so all I stand to gain now is my "stamp".

In my appeal the doctor and lawyer were bending over backwards to get me those magical 15 points and did give me 11 eventually, alas, not enough.

I truly believe that the "system" tries to wear you down to the point of giving up.

I have now applied for a job with the Customs and Revenue ( I hope you don't need good vision !) just to be co-operative with the system.

I would like to say that throughout this event my family and friends have been brilliant, giving me constant support and encouragement and without them I don't like to think where I would be.

It is easy to say this, but never give up, things do get better but it does take time and patience and not everything goes your way all of the time.

Thanks to David for sending in his profile. Anyone else who would like to share their story can send it along with a photograph (if you're not shy!)

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