03/02/2026
Life changes in an instant after a haemorrhagic stroke, and around half of people who are affected do not survive.
Thankfully, when it happened to Natalie's dad in 2025, he did survive.
'I'd been in the office all day,' Natalie remembers. She rang her parents to check in on them, 'We were scheduled to go on a trip that we were all excited about.'
Her parents explained that her dad had been feeling unwell throughout the day and was not quite himself. He was dizzy, frequently bumping into things, had a severe headache, and his blood pressure was very high when they tested it on a home monitor.
Because her dad did not have the three most common signs of stroke—face drooping, arm weakness, and speech problems, known as the FAST test—no one initially suspected a stroke.
At first, her parents were reluctant to contact a health professional, wanting to ‘avoid making a fuss’. But after some convincing, they rang 111.
An appointment was made for Urgent Care, which was quickly escalated to an A&E visit.
'When I arrived to pick them up,' Natalie said, 'they explained an ambulance had been offered but, not wanting to inconvenience anyone, they turned it down.' So Natalie drove her parents to a regional hospital further away.
Once there, after initial tests, the seriousness of the situation became clear. In a small consultation room in the early hours of the morning, Natalie was told her dad 'has a large and severe brain bleed'.
‘The news came as a huge shock and the effects will impact us forever as we navigate this new version of family life.’
Natalie admits that before it happened, she had ‘limited knowledge of strokes… but the parts I did know about, like FAST, were not relevant when my dad had a “massive brain bleed”.
'I felt compelled to create this sketchnote as I don’t think any of us could have predicted his stroke from his symptoms, because they didn't align with the traditional FAST signs.
‘Of course, a little cartoon in a sketchnote can’t fully convey everything we saw that day, or how my dad felt,’ she says, ‘but if it helps even one person become more aware of the lesser-known signs of stroke, then it will be worth it.’
