Elaine's story - ‘My Stroke Took Everything Away, Except my Determination’

Elaine was 59 when she fell to her bathroom floor, unable to move for eight excruciating hours until her husband Bill returned from work. For Elaine, this was only the beginning of her journey.

“At that moment I lost everything… I lost all movement, my voice and my independence. I could no longer read, write or count.”

As it turned out, Elaine had suffered a heart attack that day followed by a double stroke. The trauma left her unable to walk and speak for months. When she eventually started talking again, Elaine was diagnosed with Foreign Accent Syndrome.

Foreign Accent syndrome is a rare condition causing you to speak in a new accent, usually following a stroke or head injury. Elaine not only had to learn how to find her words again as a result of the stroke, but when she did, she found herself speaking in a thick European accent despite being a sixth generation Australian.

“The stroke took everything from me, but it didn’t take away my determination,” she exclaims.

Elaine has worked tirelessly on her rehabilitation, with some support from the team at Carrington Health in Box Hill. She visits weekly to attend Physiotherapy and Speech Therapy, as well as being a regular at their group programs.

Learning to communicate again has been a gradual process for Elaine and has involved a lot of hard work. Yet despite facing the loss of her independence and identity, Elaine believes she has a lot to live for. She credits her nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren as her motivation. “I’m doing it for them”, she says with a huge smile, “I want to see them grow up”.

”Most people don’t survive what I did, it is my determination that has got me through”, says Elaine, pictured below with her husband Bob.