In this section Māori stroke survivors and whānau talk about their experiences of stroke recovery.
I can remember the speech therapist saying but remember who you are. Whether you’re Māori, Pākehā, remember who you are. And don’t ever let that go from you because that’s the way you are, that’s the way you’ve been brought up.
In some ways I can accept the things that I can’t do, and in some ways it’s good to accept what you can’t do but nevertheless do everything you can do which is really important. I actually had to use my mind that I can do it, I can do it. I can lift that leg, I can lift up, I can stand. Having stand, now I can stand my left foot, then my right foot, and finally eventually get to where I’m going… Every, every step I tell my mind I can do it. And sometimes it’s bloody hard to do it, but I, I don’t give up.
Practise practise practise all the f-ing time.
There’s no one else to do it for me. Only I can do it myself.
I knew I was sick and I needed someone to fix me, and they if they weren’t gonna help, then I’ve gotta do my fix, fix myself.
I could talk. But I couldn’t understand what I was doing. No, on a scale from 10, I was down to about a 4, 3, lucky to be a 3… i wareware te reo. Yeah, I couldn’t understand nothing.
But it’s been hard for my sister to get us to this point cos we had no ears. We had no patience, no ears, and didn’t want to learn. As far as we’re concerned, you’re the health provider kind of thingy in our family. You worry about it. Now it’s like we’re all keen.
We’re not bad. We just didn’t understand back then.
Just the fact, that basic information that, sometimes because you’ve had a stroke you may feel like this, or things might change for you. It was alright to say, it’s alright, that’s normal to be upset or emotional and stuff, that’s quite the norm.
Living with the effects of a stroke, or caring for a whānau member, can be isolating. Here some whānau share their experiences.
You certainly find out who your friends are. She had quite a huge circle of so called friends but finished up with one good one.
And it’s just one of the things that we have to accept is caring for her at home actually is a form of isolation from other people.
I want to go back to work. It’s a boring life staying at home. It sucks man! Dunno why people, dunno how people enjoy staying at home. I find it so boring man.