Warning signs ultra-fit mum-of-two and surfer experienced in moments before life-changing health episode Mother, 43, suffered two strokes on same day She reveals warning sign she initially missed READ MORE: New details after Aussie cricket star suffers stroke By David Southwell For Daily Mail Australia Published: 12:05 BST, 23 August 2024 | Updated: 12:10 BST, 23 August 2024 e-mail 1 View comments A creeping paralysis was the only warning sign that an active mother-of-two and avid surfer was experiencing back-to-back strokes. Jenny Hellyer, 43, was coming home from a day spent on the beach with her family in the Northern Rivers region of NSW on January 6 when she began to feel a paralysis creeping through her right leg. She didn't notice anything at first because she was in the passenger seat while her husband was driving, but that quickly changed when they got home.
'When I went to get out of the car my leg collapsed underneath me,' she told 9News . 'It felt like my leg was a flag flapping in the breeze, like it wasn't connected to my body at all. I tried to take a few steps and I just couldn't walk.
'Nothing was making sense. I was thinking maybe it was a tic or a snake bite. I was trying to work it out.
' Things got worse when Ms Hellyer suffered numbness to half her face and suddenly had 'a strong metallic taste' in her mouth. She questioned if it could be a stroke but reasoned she was 'too young'. Jenny Hellyer, 43, was a very fit and active mother who was shocked to find herself a stroke victim Read More Courtney, 20, was about to start her dream job and brushed off the migraines she'd been having.
Then she woke up paralysed and unable to speak However, as she googled her symptoms a stroke became increasingly likely. 'I turned to my husband and said I think I've had a stroke, I need to get to hospital,' Ms Hellyer said. Her husband called an ambulance, which rushed Ms Hellyer to Lismore Base Hospital where an MRI scan revealed she had suffered two major strokes and a number of mini-strokes.
A GoFundMe page set up by David Orourke said Ms Hellyer 'was left with the right side of her body impacted and it was discovered that she had had two strokes to the left side of the brain'. ' As an incredibly fit and healthy mum this has unexpectedly put a tragic halt on life for the whole family,' he wrote. 'As anyone that knows Jenny knows she is an amazing mum of two beautiful children that works tirelessly in environmental research.
' 'Prior to her recent two strokes, Jenny made surfing and Muay Thai look easy.' After two weeks in the hospital's complex care unit, Ms Hellyer took her first steps. While it has been a gruelling rehabilitation Ms Hellyer (pictured) has managed to surf again Ms Hellyer moved to another hospital where she underwent intensive physiotherapy and occupational therapy.
'Jenny is having to 'rewire her brain' (a confronting process) and strengthen the weakness in her right arm and leg,' Mr Orourke wrote. 'Cognitive screening tests unfortunately have also revealed the stroke impacted concentration and memory portions of her brain.' Ms Hellyer said she felt 'like a foreigner in my own home' when she was finally discharged and struggled completing simple tasks.
Read More EXCLUSIVE The Bali Belly warning every Australian needs to read 'It would take me an hour and a half to unload four bags of shopping because I couldn't process where everything should go,' she said. Doctors discovered a small hole in her heart that she was born with as well as a blood clotting disorder with both things increasing her risk of stroke. Even so, Ms Hellyer said her friends and family were shocked by what had happened.
'The most common response I get is, "but you're so fit and healthy",' she said. Stroke Foundation Chief Executive Officer Dr Lisa Murphy said many wrongly believed strokes only happened to older people. 'Stroke does not discriminate - it can happen to anyone, at any age,' she said.
'Although the risk of experiencing a stroke increases as we get older, around 1 in 4 strokes happen to young and working-age people.' Share or comment on this article: Warning signs ultra-fit mum-of-two and surfer experienced in moments before life-changing health episode e-mail Add comment.
