Rose Gallagher, 62, suffered a stroke 12 years ago – and was presented with her ‘Life After Stroke’ Award by Fair City actor Jim Bartley at the special ceremony organised by the Irish Heart Foundation.
Rose, from Malin Head, went from being the carer to being the cared for.
After the stroke, her speech, swallowing and limbs were badly affected but Rose never gave up and never complained. Always practical, Rose has made sure all her family know how to do the Heimlich manoeuvre in case she chokes on her food.
As far as the Gallaghers are concerned, Rose is still their “supermum”. So for her undeniable compassion and valour Rose Gallagher wins the first of our adult courage awards.
Joining the heroes on the day to present an award was living soap legend Jim Bartley who himself suffered a stroke earlier this year on 1st June (2011).
The Fair City actor who plays Bela Doyle said: “I was reading scripts when the stroke happened. I started to get a strange feeling, it just came over me. My right arm started to go numb from my wrist to the bicep. And when I tried to read, the letters kept jumping on the page. I couldn’t read them properly.”
Rose said she believed the 50 minute journey to hospital did not help her – and believes the problems caused to her by the stroke would not have been as bad had she arrived at hospital sooner.
Jim presented an Adult Courage Award to Rose who lives with the daily fear of choking after being left with no gag reflex after her stroke. As recently as 3 weeks ago, the retired nurse woke to find paramedics working on her after choking on a scone because her swallowing muscles are paralysed.