Hand in Hand is the autobiography of Jane Coupes, stroke survivor. It's a compelling roller-coaster ride which follows Jane throughout her eventful recovery following her stroke in 2001, which occurred ten days after the arrival of her baby son.
Do not miss this remarkable and inspirational story!
Can you imagine having one of the most joyful events and the single most tragic event of your life all happening within a two week period? This is what happened to me in February/March 2001 when I suffered a massive stroke approximately ten days after the birth of my son, leaving me with significant injuries including a paralysed left arm and leg.
My book covers details of my complicated, lengthy and ongoing recovery, both physical and psycholigical and also my sifficult journey with my husband, daughter and young son, which had a triumphant outcome, hence the title of the book 'Hand in Hand!
I have attempted to explain exactly what happens when you have a stroke and the assumptions as to why it happened to me, rather than the next person.
I hope you will be enlightened or inspired by my book.
Preface
The idea for this book came about shortly aft er arriving home
aft er sp ending six long and gruelling months in a rehabilitation
hospital. Despite having two very young children, one of
whom was my newborn son, my husband and our two families
had coped extremely well, rallying around in that Irish
Catholic way, so even though I was away from home every
job had been covered by another family member. Although I
would not have chosen for it to be any diff erent, in the days
following my discharge, I felt as though I did not have a role
any more, despite being a survivor and still having to continue
my rehabilitation to achieve the best recovery possible.
I was too frail to leave the house without being accompanied,
so needed some direction.
Technically on maternity leave, but still undergoing a massive
rehabilitation, I was therefore subjected to daytime television,
and watched lots of real-life accounts of people who
had overcome adverse medical conditions. I watched one
such programme and thought, I should write my story. My
boss had always told me that I wrote excellent business letters,
but I also felt compelled to tell my story in case I could
in anyway help another young stroke survivor.
Although the book has taken just over four years to write,
there were long periods during that time when I put it on
hold, as I felt there were more important and time-critical
issues to deal with, i.e. developing and nurturing my relationship
with my son, pursuing my physical recovery, sorting out
my crazy mixed-up head, moving house to a new area and
gett ing life back to some sort of normality.
Why should you read my story over any other? Well, I feel
it is an inspirational story, with a diff erent angle involving
the children, an extraordinary family, friendship and I guess
also a love story.
Introduction
The woman lay completely fl at on the hospital bed. There
was no pillow. She was totally paralysed. Her hair was shoulder
length back then and instead of being strewn all over her
pale drawn face in a tragic way as you may imagine, her relatives
thought it was disturbingly neat. She was on a bed on
the high-dependency unit aft er suff ering a massive stroke
that morning, although she herself was still unaware of this.
Her relatives did not know if she would survive the night.
The medical team ran to and from her bedside; it was a life
threatening emergency situation and the woman was indeed
fi ghting for her life!
The experienced cardiology consultant went home late
that evening utt erly baffled, and thought about his young
patient. She had already been a patient on the high-dependency
unit for a few days with a rare heart condition called
post-partum cardiomyopathy, which in itself can have a 50
per cent mortality rate. Th e woman had delivered a baby boy
ten days before, but what could possibly have caused her to
have a major stroke and for her heart to be in such a critical
condition?
Th at woman was me.
Th is is my story…
Jane Coupes took ill health retirement from her job in Human Resources in 2002 after surviving a heart condition and stroke which occurred ten days after her son’s birth. This is her first book about her incredibly intense experience and ongoing recovery. Jane is married with two children and lives in Stockport, Cheshire.