My Story

Thank you for taking time to look at my fundraising page, my charity of choice is Different Strokes. It's a charity very close to my heart following not only my own stroke in 2021 but my 11 year old nephew Ryley's diagnosis of a rare illness called Moya Moya. 

Ryley was just 9 years old when he suffered from an ischaemic stroke in January 2021, causing right sided weakness and speech difficulties.

Ryley spent time in Noah's Ark Children's Hospital, Cardiff, where he had intensive investigations and started his rehabilitation programme.

This happened at the height of the covid pandemic, so once discharged his rehab programme continued at home with ongoing support from Speech & Language, Occupational and Phsyio Therapy.

Ryley went on to make good progress up until September 2021 when he had a Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA). This prompted further scans and investigations over the next few months until Feb 2022 when Ryley was diagnosed with Moya moya disease.

Moya Moya disease is a rare progressive arterial disease of the brain,it affects 1 in 1 milion people! Ryley went on to have life saving brain surgery in Feb 2022 where he had a temporal artery indirect bypass. Post Op recovery has been challenging- physical activities and exertion both physically and emotionally were reduced due to th high risk of stroke post surgery. Ryley needed to rest to give the surgery chance to work and form new pathways in the brain to form. In Oct 2022 Ryley found out the surgery had been a success!

No aged 12 , the road to recovery continues and he takes one day at a time.

Positivity and hope have played a fundamental role in recovery for both Ryley and his family. This fundraising page is here to to prove that stroke defines no one. Join us in supporting a fantastic cause whilst raising awareness for those with Stroke and Moya Moya.