Women and stroke: 'It was like my whole world had fallen apart'

Kay Howley was a busy working mum of three when she had a stroke aged 40.  It forced her to reassess her life

Kay Howley: 'I went into the back office where we had a mirror. I looked fine. I repeated the exact same words, but they didn’t come out right.'
Picture: Domnick Walsh 

IT had been a perfectly normal morning in April 2013 — right up to the point Kay Howley turned to say something to her colleague, who’d just come back from a coffee break.

“She didn’t hear me, but suddenly I realised my words sounded weird, slurred. I went into the back office where we had a mirror. I looked fine. I repeated the exact same words, but they didn’t come out right.”