A “super fit, healthy eater” faces a life of paralysis after suffering a stroke when he was just 30, as cases of strokes in Britons under 50 continue to rise.
Liam Rudd, a mechanic from Guildford, had just moved to Australia’s Gold Coast when he suffered a fatal stroke that caused him to immediately collapse in the shower.
His partner, Stella Slinger Thompson, 28, found him unable to move after the attack on Sunday, November 11, and immediately called an ambulance.
“He had been vomiting so we thought he had a really bad concussion, but at the time we didn’t realize what it was,” recalled Ms Slinger Thompson, who is from Brighton but also lives in Australia.
Now, having recently awakened from a coma, Rudd is suffering from paralysis on his left side and has been told he must undergo intensive rehabilitation for at least a year and a half.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Mrs. Slinger Thompson. “He could be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Who knows at this point. It’s a lot of living in limbo and trying to stay positive without really knowing anything.”
After arriving at the hospital, doctors examined Mr. Rudd and almost immediately determined that he had suffered a stroke due to paralysis on his left side.
he He needs emergency surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain that had caused the attack, they said.
Liam Rudd, 30, suffered a life-threatening stroke despite being “super fit” and “eating healthy”.
However, during surgery doctors found a second blood clot that was too “high risk” to operate on immediately, forcing them to delay the operation until the next day.
The first surgery lasted six hours and involved cutting into his skull to relieve pressure on his brain.
“The second surgery was a pretty sleepless night,” Mrs. Slinger Thompson said. “It’s been pretty bleak.”
Doctors put Mr Rudd in an induced coma to carry out the risky operation.
He remained sedated for the next three days, until doctors decided it was safe to wake him.
Doctors have not confirmed what caused the stroke, but believe it may be related to a fibroelastoma, a benign tumor that can grow on the heart valves and cause clots.
Currently, doctors examine him five times a day in a stroke ward and Ms Slinger Thompson visits him every day.
While Mr Rudd’s emergency medical expenses are covered by the UK’s reciprocal agreement with Australia, it does not cover his rehabilitation process because he is not an Australian citizen or sponsored.
“He is currently in the stroke ward, but as soon as he is moved to the rehab ward the costs will start coming in,” Ms Slinger Thompson said.
Mr Rudd was placed in a medically induced coma after the attack, to carry out a life-saving operation on his brain.
Rudd has been told it will probably take at least a year and a half to recover from the attack.
Rudd has been forced to abandon his dream of living in Australia and fly back to the UK where he can receive free medical care.
‘From the rehabilitation stage it would be very expensive and a financial burden to the point of costing £8,000 a week.
We have been advised that the best case scenario is that we go to the UK and get the rehabilitation he needs at home, where it is free thanks to the amazing NHS.’
The advertising producer set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the cost of getting Liam home safely before he is taken to the nearest hospital.
‘(The support has) been overwhelming. “When we first launched it in 12 hours, it was £12,000. He, for the first time, got emotional and actually cried because he was so overwhelmed by the love and support he’d had.”
She added that her partner has “always wanted” to live in Australia and it has become their shared “dream” and she hopes he can return in the future.
‘It’s so unfortunate. He moved here and was about to start a new job. He always wanted to go to Australia from the first day I met him. He has always talked about it.
Rudd’s attack comes as experts warn of an alarming rise in strokes among younger adults.
Earlier this month, a MailOnline analysis of NHS data revealed that strokes among men under 39 have increased by almost a quarter over the past two decades.
According to NHS figures, strokes among young men under 40 have increased by a quarter in the last two decades.
In comparison, life-threatening attacks on women of the same age have increased by only one percent.
Earlier this year, NHS health chiefs warned that the number of people aged 50 to 59 suffering from the potentially fatal disease has risen by 55 per cent in the last 20 years, official data shows.
Strokes affect more than 100,000 Britons a year (one every five minutes) and claim 38,000 lives.
This makes it the fourth leading cause of death in the UK and a leading cause of disability.
The problem occurs when the blood supply to the brain is cut off, which kills brain cells. The damage can lead to long-term disability and affect the way people think and feel.
The most common cause is fatty deposits or a blood clot that blocks the arteries that supply the brain, known as an ischemic stroke.
This happens due to cardiovascular disease, when blood vessels become narrowed or blocked over time by plaques.
They are composed of cholesterol, calcium and other substances that accumulate on the walls of the arteries in a process known as atherosclerosis.
The other, called a hemorrhagic stroke, occurs when a blood vessel bursts in the brain and begins to leak its contents into the organ.
Despite advances in care improving survival rates, stroke remains the fourth leading cause of death in the UK, with 38,000 stroke-related deaths a year.