Emma's story

I was 32, when I had a brain haemorrhage. I had a busy career and had just finished a two-year Executive MBA programme.

My husband and I had married a couple of years previously and we were thinking of starting a family.

I am one of the exceptionally lucky brain haemorrhage sufferers.

I was diagnosed quickly, and this was key to the possibility of recovery.

We were provided with a variety of materials published by Brain & Spine Foundation whilst I was in hospital. This was helpful to my husband in the scary hours immediately afterwards so he could understand what had happened. He needed to understand quickly the risk and consequences, as he was taking responsibility for my decisions. I read the leaflet a lot as I struggled with my memory. Later in my recovery other information became relevant i.e. material about how to deal with fatigue, techniques to deal with short term memory issues, and how to return to work.

I was lucky that I was treated in one of the main hospitals for brain haemorrhage. Therefore, the knowledge and resources in that hospital are incredible. I know from the experience of my Dad, that this knowledge is not widespread so there is a ‘postcode lottery’ around the understanding of this condition, and how to manage recovery. I would love to see the resources of Brain & Spine Foundation reach a greater number of people.

Nine years on from the emergency, we now have two young children (4 and 6) who keep me very busy. After a period of phased return to work, I returned to the same full-time career. In the little spare time I have, I like to keep active and took up running three years ago. I’ve gradually built up my distances and I’m going to run the Great North Run this year for The Brain & Spine Foundation.