A woman has hailed her hero husband after he noticed a tell tale sign that she was having a stroke on their wedding anniversary. Kyle Fahey noticed his wife, Catherine, was drooping in the left hand side of her face and rushed her to hospital, with his quick thinking meant she is now recovering well after the incident, reports Lincolnshire Live.
The couple had been watching a film with her children the night prior to their 13th wedding anniversary before Catherine headed to bed. She was then joined by her husband, who was putting the kids to bed, and upon entering their bedroom he noticed something wasn't right with his partner.
Catherine said: "We'd been downstairs in the living room watching The Lion King with the kids. I went up to bed, and Kyle followed me not long after. I'd already been up to go to the bathroom once and I felt fine.
"He turned the light on and started talking to me, just to tell me both the kids were in bed. He asked if I was OK, but as soon as I replied he definitely knew something was wrong. I had absolutely no idea, in my head I thought I was talking and acting fine, but I wasn't.
"He got me to try and stand up and put both arms out in front of me, but I had zero mobility in my left side. The reason he knew what to do because he'd seen the Stroke Association's adverts recently. I even tried drinking water but it just fell out of my mouth."
Kyle then immediately called emergency services suspecting his wife was having a stroke. He was told the wait time for an ambulance was two hours, so the quickly sprang into action to take her to A&E.
Catherine said: "He literally had to fireman's lift me down the stairs and into the car. We had to leave the kids, but luckily Alfie is old enough to have looked after Bella while we were gone.
"He just told them we needed to go out for something and we'd be back soon, he didn't want to worry them. When we got to A&E Kyle just dumped the car and didn't realise he was in the ambulance bay.
"He ran in to get a nurse and it was when I saw her face I knew something was really wrong."
Following a CT scan straight, doctors at Lincoln County Hospital confirmed what Kyle suspected , that his wife was having a stroke. After being treated in A&E, Catherine was admitted to the critical stroke unit on the day of her 13th wedding anniversary.
She said: "Luckily because he acted so fast, the doctors were able to treat me really quickly. I was on the medication within an hour.
"I didn't really feel scared but I felt so confused. I saw Kyle was upset and the nurse said to him, 'this is all down to her now how she recovers'.
"I just gave it everything. Looking back I never thought I wouldn't be able to walk again, I'm really stubborn."
Over the course of a few hours the mother's condition improved significantly, and she was miraculously walking again in a matter of hours. Her doting husband stayed by her side the entire first night before their children joined her the next day.
She said: "Alfie and Bella came up to the hospital to see me the next day with teddies and care packages, which was lovely. To think I might never have seen them again, it's so scary, I couldn't be more grateful to the hospital and my amazing husband.''
Fortunately Catherine made an amazing recovery and was discharged just two days later. She said: "My mouth on the left-hand side is still a tiny bit sagged, and I have some blurred vision, but I have been completely discharged from physio and speech therapy.
"I'm on cholesterol tablets and blood thinners for life, and because my vision is blurred I now how to wear glasses. I can't push myself exercise wise as much as I used to, and I've been advised to make sure when I go on runs I'm not alone. I have to keep an eye on my heart rate zones when I'm exercising too."
"I'll have to keep going to the hospital for follow ups, but we may never find a cause. I've had some stress at work recently, and they said it could be related to that.
"I've realised work stress just is not worth it. Your health is the most important thing.
Catherine says she is so grateful for her husband's quick thinking for 'saving her life'. She said: "Kyle absolutely saved my life. And on our wedding anniversary too.
'It's just amazing how he knew. We've been together since we were 19 and married at 21, so I feel if like he just knows me so well.
"If it had been anyone else around me they wouldn't have known the way Kyle did. It means the world what he did for me.''
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