In January this year, Deb Kelly, a prison officer and physical education instructor, collapsed in her home with a stroke. Kelly, 53, a committed runner, was at risk of permanent paralysis or even death. Her speech was slurred, her face was drooping and she had lost significant movement in her left side.
Her family called an ambulance and she was taken to the Royal Stoke University hospital, where she was given a treatment called mechanical thrombectomy to remove the blood clot in her brain that had caused the stroke.
