- Maria Dixon shares her 16-month post stroke recovery story, thanks to the treatment and care received from teams at Salford Royal and Rochdale’s Floyd neurorehabilitation unit.
“You guys are amazing” – these are Maria’s Dixon’s words of praise to the stroke and rehabilitation teams at Salford Royal and Rochdale’s Floyd neurorehabilitation unit who have helped her recover from a grade four subarachnoid haemorrhage.
Maria from Chadderton, Oldham, suffered a severe stroke in January 2024 and was rushed to Salford Royal Hospital. Initially her family were told to “expect the worst” and that if she recovered Maria would be severely disabled.
Having no memory of the event, Maria’s husband shared that he had found her slumped in her car on the driveway after returning home from work. After having her ‘bleed’ drained at Salford Royal Hospital, she then spent two weeks in intensive care before being transferred to initially B8 ward and then L1 ward.
A stay in Rochdale’s Floyd neurorehabilitation unit saw Maria struggling to balance, confused and needing one-to-one care. Further tests revealed that Maria had fluid on her brain, so she was rushed back to Salford Royal for the fluid to be drained and a ventriculoperitoneal shunt inserted, which drains excess cerebrospinal fluid from the brain into the abdominal cavity.
“The shunt was like a miracle”, said Maria. “My confusion was gone, and I was shocked when my family explained what had happened to me.”
Returning to the Floyd unit for more rehabilitation, Maria stunned both fellow patients and staff with the progress of her ongoing recovery. “Before I had the shunt, I would not say a lot and had to be helped to eat and be hoisted out of bed. Now that I was back, they couldn’t shut me up and within a couple of weeks I was walking again.”
After eight months, Maria returned home, and her husband now jokes that he has got his 100 miles per hour Maria back again! She is continuing to work as a quantity surveyor and keeping fit with weekly aerobic dance and community fitness classes.
“I can’t thank my surgeon and the stroke team at Salford Royal enough for getting me back to ‘me’ and saving my life. The staff on the Floyd unit, I refer to them as my family as they are amazing and helped me through my darkest times.”
As a thank you to the people who helped her and as an inspiration to fellow stroke patients, Maria is now busy training to be a volunteer for the Floyd unit so that she can provide support to those who find themselves in a similar situation to that which she faced. She said: “The bleed made me realise how your life can change in a minute and so you should cherish every day. Face any challenges with a smile and focus on the here and now.”