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Showing posts with label recovery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recovery. Show all posts

Saturday, May 24, 2025

I am stronger now a better person than I was before my stroke

Beating the odds: Jenithaa conducting a training programme.


In July 2017, I woke up during the night with the feeling gravity was pinning me to the bed. 

I managed to get up and shuffle to the bathroom before waking my wife. My left side didn’t seem to be responding as it should. We’re both familiar with the F.A.S.T (Face. Arms. Speech. Time) signs of stroke so when we switched on the light and saw there was no change to my face, we went back to bed. We hoped whatever was going on would sort itself out by the morning. 

However, the next day things were clearly not right so we went to hospital. I was assessed by the stroke team and had a scan of my brain. My scan didn’t show anything and my symptoms were deemed to be related to a virus, so I went home.  

Back home, I nearly fell over in the driveway as my leg failed to step out of the car. I still had movement in my left limbs, but they were reacting slowly. I couldn’t walk unaided. I needed assistance getting into the house and getting into bed, where I stayed until the next morning. By then, the situation had worsened and I went back to hospital in an ambulance. 

I was assessed again and had another brain scan. This time the doctor saw a stroke. 

I had been diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat nine years earlier when I was 47. My cardiologist, at the time, conducted a treadmill test and echo test. She concluded that my heart was strong and my arteries were clear. I was otherwise well, so I was told not to worry and enjoy life. 

The doctors in the hospital detected my heart irregularity and said I had atrial fibrillation (AF), and that is what caused my stroke. According to the Stroke Foundation, atrial fibrillation affects more than 400,000 Australians and many of those people don’t even know. People with AF are five times more likely to have a stroke. 

My occupational therapist put everything in context. She said my white blood cells were stripping away the dead brain cells and other cells were taking on the job of that part of my brain. But these cells needed to learn, so the more I did or tried to do, the better chance they would have of establishing new pathways for messaging to the rest of my body.

This made sense to me so I kicked into gear – well, not quite ‘kicked’ but motioned at least. My left side was impacted so I started working on it. I ordered a banana with breakfast each morning and spent a few hours holding and twirling it in my left hand until I got sick of it and ate the sucker. I worked out I could use the bed rail as a makeshift tricep lifting machine to strengthen my left arm, until the nursing staff caught me. They thought l might break the bed so they brought in some dumbbells. I did other exercises as well and noticed the more l did, the more movement was coming back. I was excited to wake up and see what my brain had learnt the day before and how it would respond today.

After a week, I moved to a rehabilitation hospital where I did occupational therapy and two physiotherapy sessions each day. I was determined to improve, and I did my own workouts in between. I was told I would be there for up to four weeks, but was discharged after two weeks. I wanted to stay longer because I felt there was more improvement I could make, but I was sent home and continued as an outpatient. 

Once I was home, I had a garage gym I began working out in and also hit the local gym every day focusing on what I could turn this new body of mine into. 

On my first day back at the gym, I picked up 12 kilogram dumbbells in each arm, which is what l used before the stroke. The first few days were pathetic attempts to use these weights, but I persisted. Amazingly the strength came back fairly quickly and I now use 17 kilo dumbbells. 

I took an initial three months off work as a home loan specialist to rebuild my body, then another three months to try and build brain endurance as brain fatigue would hit and it would hit hard. When I was able, I’d go to the gym as l found the blood flow and endorphins would give the brain fatigue a run for its money and replace it with muscular fatigue – which was much nicer.

I couldn’t have done any of this without the love and support of my family. They were my cheer squad. My wife was my rock and my recovery journey has inspired each of them to some degree in different ways. 

Emotionally, I never felt upset or depressed. I had a pretty simple approach to my situation – I had lived 55 great years, married a wonderful woman and we had raised great kids. My life to me was a book – I didn’t write it; it was written for me and I have no idea how many chapters are in my book. No-one does. 

The reason I wanted to share my story was partly to highlight that not all the F.A.S.T factors need to be present when a stroke occurs.  But more importantly, stroke doesn’t mean your life is over. The human body is an amazing thing and the recovery journey I’ve been on has shown me what it is capable of doing. 

Although it has taken time, my journey has been exciting in many ways as l watched my left side become operational again. I am actually stronger now than l was pre-stroke. I have also returned to work – all that within eight months.  - 
 By Greg Crawford


Greg exercising

‘I am now a better person than before the stroke'


Beating the odds: Jenithaa conducting a training programme.

KLANG: She was at the height of her career when the inevitable struck, leaving her physically and financially devastated.

However, years later, Jenithaa Santhirasekaran, 56, believes that the stroke she suffered in 2011 was a blessing in disguise.

Jenithaa, who was then a country director for the Malaysian AIDS Council overseeing an externally funded programme on community action and harm reduction, recalled: “The stroke and the physical disability that followed made me look at myself, and life in general, from a different perspective.

“I was doing very well before it happened, but I was proud, arrogant and self-centred, believing I had the best career, as well as wealth and glamour.”

The mother of three daughters aged 33, 22 and 17, and grandmother of a six-year-old girl, had also served as the executive director of outreach organisation PT Foundation before joining the Malaysian Aids Council.

Jenithaa recalled how the turning point in her life came after she was injured in a snatch theft incident that resulted in her suffering injuries to her head, face and neck.

“I was on medical leave for two weeks and suffered from nausea and headaches and felt faint all the time long after my medical leave ended.

“Two months later, when attending a meeting in Bali, I suffered a stroke in my hotel room,” said Jenithaa.

The stroke rendered her unable to walk and talk, and also affected her right eye.

After being hospitalised in Bali for two weeks, she was allowed to return home to Malaysia and was readmitted here two weeks later after suffering fits.

Wheelchair-­bound but able to speak by then, Jenithaa said she went for everything she believed could help her, such as ayurvedic treatment, massages and acupuncture.

“I was jobless, broke and an OKU (orang kurang upaya – a person with disabilities) and after a while I had no money left in my bank account.

“There came a time when there wasn’t even any food in the house to feed my children and that truly devastated me and made me feel useless,’’ said Jenithaa, adding that it was then that she decided to take her own life.

Desiring to spend one final day with her three daughters, then aged 19, eight and four, Jenithaa emerged from her room, where she had been isolating herself, to be with them.

However, when she saw how much her children loved her and their happiness upon seeing her, Jenithaa chose to fight back and refused to let the stroke control her life.

“I stopped using my wheelchair and held on to walls and objects while teaching myself to walk again.

“I also literally begged, borrowed and stole to raise my children in the condition that I was in.

“I made myself ‘thick-skinned’ and asked for help but unfor­tunately lost so many ‘friends’ during this time after I approached them to seek financial help,” said Jenithaa, who became a single mother when her youngest daughter was born.

She also called up friends and acquaintances and started going out to let people see her in her post-stroke condition.

Jenithaa added that she started taking any job that came her way as well as pursued courses and developed herself into a speaker, forum panellist and advocate for the differently-abled.

“I am now a certified neuro-­linguistic master practitioner and trainer, clinical hypnotherapist, disability equality training ­trai­ner, non-governmental organisation management trainer, environment social and governance trainer and a diversity, equity and inclusion trainer.”

She added that she has also developed and run modules on emotional well-being, climate change and innovative parenting and has conducted over 100 workshops to date.

Jenithaa said she is currently completing a diploma in integra­ted psychotherapy specialising in childhood and adulthood abuse, trauma, grief health and past life regression therapy.

Despite sight not yet fully retur­ning to her right eye, her right leg completely numb, her right hand disabled and her speech sometimes impaired, Jenithaa added that she has finally found herself.

“I am happy that I am now a better person than I was before the stroke happened.”

She can be contacted at jenithaa69@gmail.com

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Saturday, October 31, 2020

Global economic rebound stricken by Covid-19 surge

European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde (pic) said the economic recovery is “losing momentum more rapidly than expected” after the partial rebound seen in the summer. She warned that the risks to Europe’s economies are “clearly tilted to the downside”.

THE recent resurgence of the Covid-19 infections has cast a new shadow over the global economy, with lockdown measures taking place.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron has declared a nationwide lockdown starting today. It comes just days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a four-week shutdown of bars, restaurants and theatres.

This week’s decline in global equities comes as investors grow increasingly worried about the economic recovery due to the sharp rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in Europe and in the US.

Over the past few weeks, there has been a series of new restrictions in many countries, including Malaysia, that make it harder to know where the economy is heading.

On Thursday, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said the economic recovery is “losing momentum more rapidly than expected” after the partial rebound seen in the summer.

She warned that the risks to Europe’s economies are “clearly tilted to the downside”.

The latest round of infections are causing a heightened level of uncertainties for governments to prepare fiscal and monetary responses.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist Gita Gopinath called on governments to continue fiscal support, including credit lines for small and medium businesses, wage subsidies and grants until the recovery is underway.

“To prevent large scale bankruptcies and ensure workers can return to productive jobs, vulnerable but viable firms should continue to receive support, wherever possible, through tax deferrals, moratoriums on debt service, and equity-like injections, ” she said in mid-October.

“Most economies will experience lasting damage to supply potential, reflecting scars from the deep recession this year, ” she added.

The IMF pointed out that Covid-19 remained the critical factor in economic recovery, and that “many more millions of jobs are at risk the longer this crisis continues.”

According to a recent estimate by the World Bank, up to 150 million more people may be pushed into extreme poverty by 2021.

The global economy is expected to decline by 4.4% this year before it expands to 5.2% in 2021, according to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook report published recently.

Interestingly, IMF data shows that emerging markets are likely to see a lower contraction of 3.3% this year compared to 5.8% decline in developed economies.

For the eurozone economy, the agency expects a slump in GDP by 8.3% in 2020, a level not seen since the 1930s Great Depression, with Spain likely to suffer the most.

The report predicts the Spanish economy to slide 12.8% followed by Italy, down by 10.6.%. Even the EU’s economic powerhouse, Germany, could contract by 6%.

Advanced economies’ recovery in 2021 would be slower than emerging economies, with GDP expected to grow 3.9% compared to 6%, the IMF believes.

The IMF said China, where the first cases of Covid-19 were reported, will be the only economy with positive growth for this year, with 1.9% expansion.

“While recovery in China has been faster than expected, the global economy’s long ascent back to pre-pandemic levels of activity remains prone to setbacks, ” it said.

China’s recovery from the pandemic is mostly coming from accelerating industrial production and robust export growth.

The US economy grew at a record pace in the third quarter. It expanded by an annualised 33.1% quarter-on-quarter following a plunge of 31.4% q-o-q in the preceding quarter as economic activities gradually resumed.

With the second wave of pandemic infections, though, some market observers suggest that a recovery remains uncertain.

MIDF Research said that on an annual basis, the US economy contracted 2.9% year-on-year in the third quarter, which is a “significant recovery” from the 9% fall registered in the second quarter this year.

“The recovery remains incomplete as the pandemic-induced crisis is far from over and the number of daily Covid-19 cases remains elevated.

“Tighter rules in other parts of the world such as in some European countries could be echoed by the US, which threatens the continuous recovery in the country, ” it said in a report yesterday.

In a report by Reuters, Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi said rising Covid-19 cases, particularly in the winter months, could means a second economic hit from the virus, which is likely to be worse than the first time around.

He expects more business failures should the number of cases continue to spike.

“A lot of businesses were able to navigate together with the PPP money (Paycheck Protection Programme loans). Of course, consumers were able to hang in there, because they got all that consumer support from the government, ” he said.

“This time, if the pandemic intensifies and infections rise, it is going to be very difficult for these businesses to make it through, ” he added.

“We will see more business failures and the scarring effect, as economists say, will make it much more difficult for the economy to get back on track and get back to full employment.”

The IMF, meanwhile, has called on governments to rethink their spending priorities and direct funding to projects that will boost productivity, including green energy investments and education.

With debt on the rise in many countries, it said policymakers may need to increase taxes on the highest earners, cut out loopholes and deductions, and ensure that corporations pay their fair share of taxes while eliminating wasteful spending.

“This is the worst crisis since the Great Depression, and it will take significant innovation on the policy front, at both the national and international levels, to recover from this calamity, ” IMF said.

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