Ray Newton

It was a normal Thursday on 15th April 2004 in Dubai where I was General Manager of an American company. I was making a scheduled business trip to a customer in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Normally I travelled on my own, but on this occasion I was with a colleague whom I knew well. We boarded the plane which immediately taxied for take-off.

A couple of minutes later the cabin attendant came round with hot towels and stuff and I started to wipe my face. Whilst I was wiping my face, the skin on my face tingled and I became disorientated, and then I couldn't immediately talk. I attracted the attention of my colleague, Dirk. At one point, I tried to turn up the input of fresh air, but I found I couldn't stand up. I started to panic at this point and realised that something was seriously wrong.

Dirk summoned the cabin assistant but she didn't know what to do. She eventually got the pilot to come down from the cockpit to talk to me to assess the extent of the emergency. I was very conscious of the fact that the plane was still taxiing, and I didn't want it to take off as it could potentially result in a diversion and my becoming stranded in Doha or even Iran needing medical treatment. The pilot eventually turned the plane around and we went back to the terminal where a nurse came on to the plane and I was transferred to an ambulance.

I was initially taken to the medical suite at the airport where there was a debate between me, Dirk and my HR Manager (Jan) about which Dubai Hospital I should be taken to. I wanted to go to the American hospital but the consensus was that the Welcare Hospital was more suited to my immediate needs. I was eventually taken in an ambulance to the Welcare Hospital where I was seen by a neurologist in the emergency department. He got me a CT scan immediately and I felt that the staff did well. The neurologist diagnosed a stroke as the CT scan had identified a bleed. (They defined it as a CVA).

At that point I was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the Welcare Hospital and I stayed there for 7 days, until April 22nd. My HR Manager came in on the 21st April and said that I would have to be evacuated to the UK, and asked where I wanted to go. I asked to be taken to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle; and, on the night of the 22nd April, I was flown to Newcastle by air ambulance. On the 23rd of April I was admitted to the Acute Stroke Unit at the Freeman Hospital.

After a few days the doctors at the Freeman noticed I had circulation problems. Subsequent investigations revealed that I had blood clots in my femoral artery, potentially affecting blood supply to my kidneys and spleen. I underwent surgery to remove these clots in my femoral artery (a procedure termed as a Bi-lateral Thrombolectomy). The presence of these clots did not appear to be connected the stroke but indicated a propensity towards clotting in my blood stream.

It was by now the 19th of May, and my then partner came to the bedside whilst I was still recovering from surgery and she said, "Ray, I have some bad news." I thought "'Bad?' How much worse can this get!" She went on to tell me that my elder brother(16months older)had suffered a brain stem stroke the night before and was in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Now, that was a body blow, my brother had travelled to be at my side from the moment I had arrived in Newcastle, what did I have now? The prognosis for him that my family was giving was not to bright, and I had to face up to the fact that I could lose him completely, as if things weren't proving tough enough!!

Having recovered from the surgery I went in to rehab at Hunter's Moor, the Neurological Rehabilitation Unit for North East England. I spent 6 months in Hunter's Moor and was released on 17th January 2005, and I now live in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire, where I continue to make steady progress in my overall recovery.

As you can see 2004 was not a great year for me: I feel I lost my life, my job, and my freedom to move around the world in the way in which I had become accustomed, given I am now left side hemi-plegic. I have faced challenges and won throughout my working life, now I have a real challenge to fight every day for the remainder of my life.

Thanks to Ray 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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