Healthy Galway mum on her mini stroke – at just 39

Karen Reid went to the gym, grew her own vegetables and ate very healthily given her background of working in nutrition in hospitals and health stores.

So it was a huge shock to herself as well as family and friends when she experienced a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) – or mini stroke – at the age of just 39.

It was her daughter Emily who was on the ball at the wise old age of eight, back in 2019.

“I didn’t even realise I was having it. She noticed that my face was slumped on one side and that I couldn’t speak. She’d seen the FAST ad on telly about stroke systems – Face drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulty and Time to call 911 – and knew something was seriously wrong,” recalls Karen.

Emily tried calling her dad Mark, the GP in Craughwell, and even a family friend who worked with the ambulance service. They got to the GP surgery as it was closing, and the doctor immediately despatched her to the emergency department of Portiuncula Hospital in Ballinasloe.

Karen had convinced herself she was having a bad migraine, so she was preparing to call a taxi home when one of the doctors explained that she had just had a mini-stroke.

“I found that the hardest when they brought me to the stroke unit. Everyone else there was very old. I was surrounded by men and women in their 80s. It was really shocking to me.”

The following day her medical team carried out a range of different head and heart scans, one of which uncovered that that she had a congenital heart condition called Non-Compaction Myocardium, which meant her heart was smaller on one side.

Karen found a leaflet in the stroke unit for the services offered by the heart and stroke charity Croí and got tips on how to reduce her stress and lessen other risk factors for stroke. She started attending Croí’s Heartlink West virtual chats which served as a weekly reminder to keep up her healthy habits.

Read Karen’s full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now – or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie

Karen has signed up to Croí’s Couch to Wild Atlantic Way challenge to raise funds by way of thanks. To make a donation, log into a link on her Instagram page, Karens Croi Challenge. Sign up to the challenge on croiwaw.ie.