Vicky Culpeper

On Wednesday 29 June 2011, I went on holiday to Ibiza, our girls holiday that we go on every year. We were getting up to everything you normally do on holiday, getting a tan, going out every night with lots of drinking, the usual!

One night, the Sunday, we were having a few drinks in our room and suddenly I didn't feel right. I came over incredibly hot and my ear was itching, then I started to laugh incessantly. My friends were just wondering what I found so funny, only the reason I was laughing was because I couldn't speak. The next thing I knew my arm started to feel numb. Then my friends realised there was something wrong.

Now we all know what I'm like normally, so being allergic to everything, the doctor was called out to our room and I had a steroid injection, without being examined. Not feeling any better we decided I would go to the hospital the next day. Bearing in mind by this point I couldn’t feel my leg, we walked to the hospital, where the doctor there decided I had alcohol poisoning and prescribed vitamin B. I didn't question the decision and outlined that I was numb and he just brushed it off! I carried on until the following Wednesday, I was tanning and still going out just drinking water, but my symptoms continued and at this point I was scared as i wasn't getting any better.

After flying home on the Wednesday I was taken straight to A&E. By midnight that evening I was admitted onto the stroke ward where I stayed for a further 18 days. When I went into hospital I couldn't talk or walk and by the time I left I could do both. I am having physio, speech and occupational therapy and am still having regular hospital appointments. However I do think of myself as extremely lucky to be where I am today. I was diagnosed with primary Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome with Libman Saks which basically means I have a leaky heart valve and my blood likes to clot a lot! It was a clot that caused the stroke, the conditions I was inflicting upon myself on holiday were the main reason for the stroke, however my MRI scan showed 3 previous strokes and without this recent stroke I would have never have known about this condition, so that I am thankful for. I am and will be on high dose warfarin for the rest of my life and the only concern is that in future this condition could prohibit my ability to have children, but I will worry about that when it comes to it. I am at university and am just about to go into my second year, I am determined to live my life as normal!

Thanks to Vicky for sending in her 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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