Broca's aphasia - Sarah Scott - teenage stroke

Sarah had an unexpected ischemic stroke when she was 18. She now suffers from aphasia, a communication disorder.

A million people in the USA have aphasia, and 250 thousand in the UK.

Every 11 minutes, in the UK, 3 people will have a stroke. One of them will have aphasia.

More young people are suffering strokes. The probable reason for Sarah's stroke was a PFO, a hole in the heart. This was only discovered after the stroke, when Sarah had a barrage of tests to try to find the cause. The hole was closed using an amplatzer device, in November 2009.

We hope that this video might help other young people in a similar situation. I spent hours and hours online, looking for support and answers in the darkest days when Sarah was in hospital.

Please feel free to contact us if you want to!

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• aphasia
• apraxia
• broca
• expressive
• language
• disorder
• communication
• stroke
• health
• PFO
• heart
• rehabilitation
• speech
• therapy
• connect
• ischemic stroke
• blood clot
• amplatzer
• FAST
• video
• riding
• horses
• hertfordshire
• teen
• talking
• sarah
• Scott
• recovery
• puppy
• dog
• student
• giving
• voice

[scubaboy10]

I would like to express my thanks to this beautiful young woman. I too had a stroke January 28, 2010. I lost all of my speech and hearing. I lost my right arm for 4 hours. My neurlogist had found a 2mm (3/4") PFO in my heart. I have had more strokes than one. The PFO had always been there, but I didn't know about it ( no one had). The MRI had revealed my brain was ridded with brain damage. After 2 years I can talk and hear. I believe that Sarah can recover just like me. Bless you Sarah!!

[SymphUK]

@scubaboy10 thank you! Good luck with your recovery. I (Sarah's mum) also had a stroke at the end of November, and they found a PFO in my heart too - I am waiting for surgery.

[squiergear]

being only 20, I'm sure this is incredibly difficult to go through and could not imagine it. I am in a biological psychology class doing a research paper, yet something that she would love to do like read the case studies she is unable to do. A tragedy and yet she is fighting so hard to get past this.

[SymphUK]

@squiergear thank you for leaving a comment, we really appreciate it. And good luck with your research paper.

[squiergear]

My god she is beautiful.

[SymphUK]

@squiergear :)

[TroyaE117]

Symph : This one is closer to home than I betray. Sarah's expression at 35 seconds as you explain her age is a familiar one. Your kindness and patience in the background is evident. Sometimes we can do more with kind words than all the physicians available to us. A young brain can repair and re-wire but the words just will not arrive sometimes. Sometimes I wish we had spare parts! I smile.

Troya.

[thepokey]

Studying Broca's Aphasia currently at uni, sad but fascinating to watch people like this, she truly is quite amazing and brave, just battling on. Would have been much easier just to not make a video like this. Thankyou for sharing and I hope she is doing well.

[leocasados037]

Thank you! Can't help but to fall in love with her personality. Good luck in the future.

[CasHillary]

She is beautiful, and seems like a wonderful person :) I really do hope that she makes a good recovery :)

[bonafiedjay]

I'm a nursing student looking this video up for class. You're brave and beautiful for sharing this with the world and for people struggling with this condition.

[fulishproductions]

6:33 ... powerful words ... Thank you, you've done the world a service with this video

[Walaya116]

Thanks so much for posting this. Hugs

[MegaShaft007]

Thanks for this. I'm studying psychology and watching inspiring videos like this showing people with huge amount of power to overcome obstacles helps me get through tough exams!

[12345678909876547449]

Thank you so much for posting this!

[thepts]

Much creds to Sarah for showing us her progress, I hope I will do the same if I end up in a similar situation.

It could be due to her recovery process, but this seems a bit different from "classical" Brocas aphasia, she can talk with a relatively fast rhythm, on the other hand she seems to have some smaller comprehension problems, as well as alexia (inability to read), which is usually less pronounced with Brocas. Good luck to her!

[Deadboy360]

I do hope she has been doing well in the last year :) gooood luck in the future :D and a very VERY Merry Christmas :D :D