An ultramarathon runner who collapsed after experiencing a stroke is now urging others to learn the warning signs.
Wayne English, who hails from the tiny island of Jersey in the English Channel, was just feet away from completing a 5K race as part of the Health - Injuries Published: May 03, 2023 12:24 PM EDT.
“I had a good race, really felt good, and I was just coming back along the pier when I had blurred vision,” English Why TikTok Is Flooded With Track Memes Right Now.
“I couldn’t move my right arm or my right leg, and I couldn’t speak. I didn’t know where I was. I didn’t know what was happening to me. It felt like a curtain dropping over me, like the finale in a West End musical,” he said.
Wayne’s partner, Emily Le Beuvant, who was also running in the race, immediately recognized the symptoms from a TV commercial she had seen, noticing his face had slumped to one side.
“Straight away, I knew that it was something serious. My head was saying to me, ‘he’s having a stroke,’ but my heart was like, ‘no, he can’t be,’” Le Beuvant told the outlet.
English was rushed to a hospital in Southampton to undergo a thrombectomy to remove a blood clot in his brain. The procedure was successful, and English is now relearning how to speak. English, 46, had been an avid runner, completing an ultramarathon three weeks before the incident.
Doctors say the culprit was likely a hole in English’s heart, which he will soon undergo a further operation to fix.
The Stroke Association is aiding the couple during the recovery process. The charity says it has seen a growing number of strokes among younger people.
“We are working really closely with the hospital at the minute because there are gaps in the pathway for stroke that really need addressing,” said Jacqui Cuthbert, an associate director for the charity. "Data collection is one of the big issues; that’s why it’s difficult because we can’t give more robust information about actual numbers, but we’re working on it,” she told ITV News.
“It’s vital to know how to spot the signs of a stroke in yourself or someone else,” English told The Bailiwick Express. CA Notice at Collection F.A.S.T. acronym CA Notice at Collection.
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Laura Ratliff is a New York City-based writer, editor, and runner. Laura's writing expertise spans numerous topics, ranging from travel and food and drink to reported pieces covering political and human rights issues. She has previously worked at Architectural Digest, Bloomberg News, and Condé Nast Traveler Super Shoe Trends TripSavvy. Like many of us, Laura was bitten by the running bug later in life, after years of claiming to "hate running." Her favorite marathon is Big Sur.
