Echoes Of A Closed Door: A Life Lived Following A Stroke

Carol Fuller tells the inspirational story of how she and her husband dealt with the aftermaths of his sudden and debilitating stroke, and how they embraced their different life together. The account of the journey Carol Fuller shared with her husband ‘Clive’ following his stroke is truly inspirational. Covering a 21-year period, Echoes of A Closed Door is one of the few books that, in a personal way, demonstrates to readers how to keep an open mind and positive attitude to enable them to fully appreciate the extent to which a stroke impacts on life. In 1991, at age 50, Clive suffered a massive stroke due to a thrombosis of the left middle cerebral artery. The legacies sustained from his stroke were severe and cruel: anosmia/ageusia; aphasia/dysphasia; depression; dyspraxia; epilepsy; hemianopia; hemiplegia; perseveration; thalamic pain syndrome; and venous incompetence. The severe and, at times, all-consuming nature of Clive’s condition following his stroke impacted on both their lives. Carol found herself continually slipping in and out of the role of wife/carer/advocate. Life can and does deal unfair, cruel blows. Carol Fuller chose to focus not on the negative aspects of a stroke and its very many challenges, but to look for ways for her and Clive to live a good life regardless. It was not a life lived as they knew it, but one where they learned how to embrace it.