Awards prove that life can be fulfilling after a stroke

When Clara Le Blanc, 3, could not sing a nursery rhyme to her baby sister, her mother, Karen, had no doubt she had suffered a stroke.

It was Aug 19, 2012, and Clara had got into her mother’s bed in their home in Howth, Co Dublin. “At about 6am in the morning, I woke up and was giving the baby her bottle. Clare woke up and I noticed that her face had dropped. Then I realised that she couldn’t speak properly. I asked her to sing a nursery rhyme to the baby and she couldn’t.

“I asked her to lift her hands and I could see there was a weakness so I put her in the car and took her to Temple Street Children’s Hospital.”