Life After Stroke

Life no longer needs to come to a standstill post stroke. New rehabilitation therapies ensure that stroke patients can lead a normal life

- Pooja Biraia Jaiswal

On a warm sunny afternoon in October 2014, Kuldeep Thakur, then 28, had just returned to his swanky office in Thane, off Mumbai, after a meeting when he felt slightly dizzy. He thought of grabbing a bite, but before he could walk down a few steps to the office cafeteria, he fainted. His colleagues rushed him to the nearby Jupiter hospital, where it was found that he suffered a stroke. Two days after high sedation, when he regained consciousness, he found his right side, including limbs, arms and torso, paralysed. For a young man, with an athletic build and an active lifestyle involving occasional hiking trips with friends, this came as a shock to him and his family. “I was frustrated and enraged with everyone, and with my life in general,” says Thakur.

Thakur had suffered a haemorrhagic stroke, in which the carotid artery that carries blood and oxygen to the brain ruptures, leading to leakage of blood around the brain. This excess blood, if not removed, can cause the closed brain to swell and shift from its place, eventually leading to death. To prevent that, his skull was removed to access the brain, and a surgical clip was placed at the ruptured artery to stop bleeding. Thereafter, the skull was placed back in about two months.

For months thereafter, Thakur was confined indoors; he could not open his right fist nor lift his right leg. Though he could move his left side, he felt extremely weak. He soon went into a shell and kept to himself most of the time.

But that was four years ago. Today, the 32-year-old international business graduate walks 3km every day without difficulty, uses the treadmill and lifts dumbbells with his right hand with a fair amount of ease. He is back at work, supervising the marketing and sales department in his father's real estate firm, and is also planning an adventure trip with friends later this year.