A mum has spoken of her horror after discovering that her “healthy” daughter had suffered a devastating stroke – aged just ten.
Single-mother Hayley Clark, 44, said her daughter, Gracie Whittick, suffered from a stroke last Thursday (26/9) while she was getting ready for school.
The primary school student had just finished her breakfast at around 8am to go and get dressed for school when she collapsed on the floor and was discovered by her mum.
The mother-of-four said: “It was all completely out of the blue. There were no warning signs at all, she was fine before.
“She was getting ready for school and the next second she was on the floor.
“It happened in seconds. I thought she had fainted on the floor and I had to get her to come around. I got on the phone to the ambulance straight away.
“The right side of her face was drooping. She couldn’t lift her arms, move her arms or legs.
“We are all in shock, her right arm is very weak and her memory is bad. She started walking now, but she can’t walk for long she still has a wheelchair.”
Gracie and her mum, from Long Stratton, Norfolk were rushed to King’s Lynn hospital, in Lincs., in an ambulance where an MRI scan confirmed a blood clot on the right side of her brain which had caused the stroke.
Hayley said: “She then got blue lighted to Addenbrooke’s hospital, in Cambs., she kept being sick, it was horrible. The journey felt like a life time.
“She did lots of dancing and gymnastics, she was healthy and there were no signs of a stroke.
“To me a stroke is an old people thing. It isn’t something that happens to a healthy 10-year-old girl.
“She had to have a three hour operation to remove a blood clot from the left side of her brain. Because it was on the right side of her brain, it means her left side of her body isn’t working.”
Hayley said the hospital managed remove 96 per cent of the blood clot during a three hour operation.
Now Gracie is recovering in hospital who are unaware of how long she will be in hospital for.
Hayley said: “She is on a high dosage of aspirin. The hospital are trying to encourage her to use her right arm as she is right handed and it is very weak.
“She keeps getting really confused and she is getting frustrated with it all.
“Because she is normally a chatterbox, it is funny because we normally joke about that she never stops speaking. She even talks in her sleep.
“The whole thing is really surreal. Doctors still don’t know why it happened, she had a heart scan and that has come back as normal.”
Gracie still has no idea what happened and when asked by doctors said she believed she had laid on her arm funny.
Hayley continued: “She started her physio yesterday throwing the ball back and forth and saying the name of whoever she is throwing the ball to as her memory is quite bad right now.
“They can’t give me a time on how long she will be in there for, she could be in here for a couple of weeks.”
Doctors have reassured Hayley that they expect Gracie will recover from this as she has already started to regain feeling in her fingers and legs.
However, she is expected to be in hospital for another six weeks.
She will then need in-care at home as well as regular CT scans and check-ups and it is thought Gracie will only be able to go back to school part-time.
A GoFundMe has now been set up to help Hayley, a single mum, out while her daughter is in hospital.
Hayley said: “She doesn’t remember anything, I don’t think she understands what happened. She is only ten.
“If I could do anything to help raise awareness for it I will.
“It has been a shock to all of us. It has just been a hideous time for me.
“But she has been so lucky with this, it all could’ve been a lot worse.”