I fight on

By Nathan

In 2017, I sustained a seemingly innocuous workplace accident where I was struck on the head and neck by a 65kg aircraft camera. This accident resulted in a stroke eight hours later.

Unbeknownst by anyone treating me, I’d suffered a carotid artery dissection that meant a blood clot had broken away from the artery and went straight to my brain. I was told that it was unlikely I would walk or use my left arm again.

It was a sobering time, but I never let myself accept that I might never walk or get my left side back. I immediately set a goal to get back on my feet, return to work and reclaim my life.

Would I take my life back from stroke? Seven years later I can say that I have.

I have a wife that I love, and a son that I adore. We’ve travelled, and I’ve climbed mountains with my wife Kerrie by my side.

I also returned to work full-time, which was a huge achievement for me as I have always been career-driven.

It took six years to get there, and when I did, it was a very slow progression with a graduated return to work program to support me.

I have managed to compensate for any lack of movement that I have, but it was the fatigue that got me in the early days.

It was hard to manage, partly because fatigue is fatigue, and partly because of the pressure I was putting on myself to succeed. I am a highly driven person, which has both supported my recovery and at times added barriers that I didn’t need.

I am now working full-time; I am a husband to Kerrie and dad to an energetic three-year-old named Arthur. It brings me immense pride to say that.

In the early years my wife became my carer. It’s not something either of us signed up for. After stroke your life lands like a messed-up deck of cards and you must make sense of it. That takes some time.

Hybrid work has also been of great help. I don’t know how many other people with disabilities WFH (work from home) has helped. It makes working full-time more accessible and I can help with parenting during quieter periods.

I sometimes wonder if I hadn’t had the stroke what life would have looked like. I could have been the hands-on father that I can't be now. But ‘what ifs’ are just that, and I find it better to focus on the present.

And so, I fight on. For Kerrie. For Arthur. And for myself.

Follow our life after stroke on Instagram.

Thank you to my sister, Gabrielle, who is running in the City2Surf to raise money for Stroke Foundation life after stroke programs.