Stroke survivor Lil pleads with others to make a change to life

BY TOBY PORTER
toby@slpmedia.co.uk

A woman who was on the brink of death after a severe stroke is pleading with people to make one small change to reduce their own risk of having a stroke.

Lil Sullivan, from Brixton, survived but the stroke left her with physical and emotional problems.

The stroke damaged the part of her brain which controls communication, leaving her with speech and language difficulties, depression, weakness in her left leg and arm, and prone to fatigue.

Nine out of 10 strokes are linked to smoking or obesity. The risk could be reduced by making changes, says The Stroke Association.

Lil’s stroke was caused by high blood pressure.

The former teacher and scout leader, 65, said if she could go back in time to when she had the stroke in 2005, the change she would tell her younger self to listen to the doctor who tried to put her on medication.

Lil, whose father died after a stroke, said: “My doctor said that I should have a tablet for high blood pressure. When I said I didn’t want to have any tablets in my system she didn’t argue.

I think she should have. “Now I have to take nine different types of tablets. I have an entire pharmacy in my system.

“I would say to people ‘take the one’. Take the tablets, please. I wouldn’t wish that to my worst enemy.

“Everyone should have their blood pressure checked. It’s a silent killer.”

Lil’s stroke happened when she was at home in Lilford Road and she was rushed to King’s College Hospital in Camberwell.

“The stroke came on really slowly and I went into a coma. I opened my eyes and I looked on my left arm and it looked wooden.

That was a scary thing. “They told me afterwards that I could have died. “I wasn’t able to walk or talk.

All my bodily functions were gone. I had to be helped by the nurses to do everything.

“I thought I was speaking but people didn’t understand what I was saying. “I’d draw a picture of a toilet, something as basic as that.

I thought ‘Oh my goodness, what would people who weren’t able to draw do’.

“The doctors were fantastic. I would love to say thank you so much to the intensive care nurse. She really helped me in a time of sadness.”

Lil spent a total of seven months in King’s – where she caught MRSI – before coming home.

Lil’s daughters Sadb and t’Ida were aged 21 and five when she had her stroke. “Sadb was at work so t’Ida has been my carer from five years old to now. “My daughters had to grow up fast and I don’t like that. It’s sad.

“I lost some friends because I wasn’t able to talk to them. All I could do was smile and wave. I was a real talker before.

“I can’t dance. I was a good dancer. I used to walk everywhere. Now I can’t. I’ve put on a tremendous amount of weight because I can’t exercise.”

Before her stroke, Lil worked as a professional artist after gaining an MA in fine art and a degree in sculpture. Her art has inspired her recovery.

She curated an exhibition at the Morley Gallery in Lambeth with the proceeds 50-50 for the artist and for the Stroke Association which had helped me.”

Lil was also a founder of the London Stroke Choir, for people with brain injuries. She is now raising funds to restart it after lockdown. She also curated an exhibition of her work, called Stations, at Brixton Wings.

Anyone interested in joining – or donating to – the London Stroke Choir can contact Lil on 07488 329161.

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Nine out of 10 stroke survivors in London would go back in time and urge their younger self to make lifestyle changes which may have prevented their stroke, a new UK-wide survey by the Stroke Association has revealed.

More than four out of five people surveyed say they hadn’t realised that they were at risk of a stroke. But almost nine out of 10 had since made lifestyle changes.

The charity has released the findings to mark Stroke Prevention Day and is urging everyone to make one small change to reduce their own risk of stroke.

Stroke is one of the leading causes of adult disability and the fourth biggest cause of death in the UK. While some strokes are unavoidable, up to nine out of 10 are linked to lifestyle and could be preventable if people are aware of the risks and able to make changes.

The leading change survivors would urge their younger self to make would be to reduce stress levels, with 52 per cent saying they would have done this.

Other changes stroke survivors would have made include exercising more, monitoring their blood pressure, eating more healthily, stopping smoking, losing a set amount of weight, drinking less alcohol, monitoring high cholesterol and reducing salt intake.

Juliet Bouverie, chief executive of the Stroke Association, said: “A stroke can happen at any time and at any age and can be devastating.

Many people simply don’t realise they are at risk and that’s something that we as a charity desperately want to put right.”

Find out about the Stride for Stroke challenge and the other things you can do at www.stroke.org.uk/stroke-prevention-day”

Pictured: Lil Sullivan