Our invitation to Hilary Devey to visit visit Bolton Stroke Group

For the past nine years I have been Chairman of Jigsaw (Bolton Stroke Group) a totally voluntary group, with a membership of approximately 100 Stroke Survivors and Carers.

Our aim is to put a smile on Strokes Survivors faces and help them regain their confidence and wellbeing. I would love to invite Hilary to visit our group to see what we are about and perhaps tell me which survivor I should nominate. Every one of our survivors and carers have a story to tell and for me each member is exceptional. To see the progress of members over many months of determination to get better is truly inspiring. How on earth am I able to select one individual for an award when each and every one of them deserve to be recognised.

If a survivor manages to lift a finger after being immobile for six months and showing such determination to get there, is for me a champion, just as much as someone who has made a recovery and gets recognition for a more noticeable achievement.

Every stroke is different and the speed of recovery is a lottery. There are thousands of individual stories out there and to pick one as being better than another is, for me, wrong.

The Stroke Association does a fantastic job in raising awareness of stroke, but as a leader of a group that struggles to find funding and volunteers, I find the lavish ‘Life after Stroke Awards’ show somewhat distasteful. It must cost a fortune to produce and when groups like ours, see the Stroke Association getting sponsors to fund such an event, particularly galling, when support for Stroke Survivors in this country is abominable. That is another story.

Groups like ours, of which there are many, see little or no financial support from The Stroke Association and struggle to survive and just might benefit from some of that sponsor money. If we fail, then voluntary local help for stroke survivors is lost.

My open invitation to Hilary still stands.

Graham Bridge

Saunton Avenue

Harwood