Swimming legend warns of stroke symptoms

Swimming legend says take stroke symptoms seriously

Stroke Foundation media release 9 April 2010

It was a Saturday morning in February 2001, when Rebecca Perrott realised something was wrong. The Commonwealth Games gold medallist swimmer was having breakfast when her face and right arm went numb, and she had trouble speaking clearly.

“It seems silly now, but my partner had just come off night shift and was asleep, and I didn't want to wake him. So I rang my father and he came and took me to A&E.

“By the time we got there, I was mostly OK again. The hospital did some neurological tests, and made me an appointment to see a neurologist a couple of weeks later.”

Rebecca saw the neurologist and underwent a series of tests. She also had an MRI brain scan.

“The MRI showed that something had happened recently in my brain, and also that there had been other episodes in the past.”

Rebecca had suffered a transient ischaemic attack (TIA), or mini stroke. TIAs occur when there is a blockage of blood flow to part of the brain. Symptoms can include sudden weakness and numbness of the face, arm or leg especially on one side of the body; blurred or loss of vision in one or both eyes; difficulty speaking or understanding what others are saying, and dizziness, loss of balance or difficulty controlling movements.

With a TIA, symptoms disappear within 24 hours, and often in less than an hour – as was the case with Rebecca.

Rebecca underwent further tests including a lumbar puncture and brain angiogram, but got a clean bill of health.

Nearly ten years later, Rebecca has never had another TIA. She takes low-dose aspirin, and continues to live a healthy lifestyle – she doesn't smoke, exercises regularly and has a healthy diet.

She says her TIA confounded doctors, as she was only 39 at the time, and very fit and healthy, with no family history of stroke.

Her message to others is to take any stroke-like symptoms very seriously.
“Seek medical attention immediately and never ignore the symptoms of a TIA even if you recover very quickly afterwards. It might be a warning of a future severe stroke, which could be prevented with treatment.”

The Stroke Foundation of New Zealand reports that the average risk of having a stroke in the first week after a TIA is more than 10 percent, and 20 percent within three months. The Foundation advises that the majority of strokes are preventable and so it’s important to have any stroke-like incident assessed by a doctor.

“The sooner a doctor is able to confirm whether it is a TIA, the sooner you can start on preventative treatment,” says Rebecca.

Rebecca won a gold medal in the 200m freestyle at the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton in 1978. She is still very involved in swimming and on 10 April will join other swimming legends, including Danyon Loader, Anthony Mosse and Anna Simcic-Forrest in a charity race at the West Wave Aquatic Centre in Waitakere. Money raised by Rebecca will go to the Stroke Foundation, to help provide information and support to others who have had a TIA or a stroke.
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