FOUR-TIME ALL-IRELAND WINNING Dublin footballer Siobhan McGrath has opened up about a stroke she suffered last year.
The 35-year-old explained how she thought stroke symptoms were little more than the after-effects of a tough training session.
McGrath said she felt exhausted on the day of the brain attack last June – but blamed her aches and pains on a run-out with her club, Thomas Davis, the previous night.
She woke up feeling confused, with simple tasks such as putting on a t-shirt, opening a window and sending an e-mail more complicated than usual. She knew something wasn’t right when she struggled to switch her house alarm off.
“In my mind, I knew what the correct code was, but it was as if my body wouldn’t let me enter it into the keypad,” recalled McGrath, speaking as an ambassador for the Irish Heart Foundation.
“I remembered the F.A.S.T. TV adverts informing people about the signs of stroke. I looked in the mirror and my face wasn’t drooping on one side.
“I tried to tell myself, ‘You’re not having a stroke’, but the words didn’t come.
“I started to speak, but simple sentences sounded like double Dutch.
“It was at that moment that I decided to phone my Mum – but it took a few attempts before she could understand what I was trying to say.”
An ‘Act F.A.S.T. – Minutes Matter’ campaign by the Irish Heart Foundation is highlighting stroke’s key warning signs: Facial drooping, Arm weakness, Slurred speech and the crucial importance of Time to get medical help if any of these signs are apparent.
McGrath’s stroke was confirmed following an MRI and a series of tests, and she spent a week in Tallaght Hospital.
An accountant by trade, she has retuned to work and is back playing for Thomas Davis. Aside from some problems with vocabulary, she feels she has made a full recovery.
“Thanks to the F.A.S.T. message, I knew I needed to get help,” the 2010, 2018, 2019 and 2020 All-Ireland winner added.
“If you recognise any one of the signs, get medical help immediately. No one is invincible. I’m lucky that I had my family and boyfriend minding me.”
McGrath appeared on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland today, while more information is available here.
