Young stroke survivor’s marathon celebration

A young stroke survivor has a marathon goal in mind to mark the fourth anniversary of the day she beat the odds.

Blenheim woman Irene Anderson was just 22 years old when she suffered a severe stroke.

Now the electrical engineer is retracing her footsteps in the St Clair half marathon next month to celebrate her new lease on life.

Two days after completing the 21.1km course in 2019, Irene suffered a stroke at home in Blenheim. The keen runner was partially paralysed as her brain swelled to dangerous proportions.

“I was told I wouldn’t be able to walk again,” Irene says. “My brain swelled and they had to take away a third of my skull.”

The Marlborough Lines engineer had been in Blenheim just three months when she collapsed, with surgeons later revealing she was lucky to be alive.

As the anniversary of that day in May approaches, Irene, now 26, has mixed feelings about it.

But she was determined to do something positive.

“I’m a bit apprehensive but want to celebrate too. It will be good to claim that [the half marathon] back.”

Initially, Irene blamed ongoing calf pain on a sports injury but competed in the 2019 half marathon regardless.

She says she remembers running and struggling to breathe.  She knows now that she had a blood clot which moved from her calf to her lungs and then her brain.

On the day of the stroke, Irene says she struggled to even walk to work and knew something wasn’t right.

But it was only when she collapsed at home that she realised how sick she truly was.

“To start with I thought I’d just fainted but half my body wouldn’t work. I called my friend and thought I was talking but she hung up as I wasn’t saying anything,” Irene says.

“She was worried and came round. Friends knew straight away what had happened and called an ambulance.”

Only 25 to 30 per cent of strokes are experienced by people under the age of 65 years in New Zealand.

A stroke is a sudden interruption of blood flow to part of the brain causing it to stop working and eventually damaging brain cells. Consequences can be debilitating and last a lifetime.

After a three week stay in Christchurch Hospital and then three weeks at Burwood Hospital for rehabilitation, Irene, now 26 years old, was well enough to be discharged.

Her left hand still causes her some issues and she battles constant fatigue,” she says.

But within months of being discharged, the tenacious runner was back in her sneakers, determined to run again.

“Six months afterwards I did a 5km walk with my mum.

“Oh, and I always keep my phone handy, it’s always attached to me. I know what the consequences would have been if it hadn’t been near that day.”

The St Clair Half Marathon takes place on May 13.