A woman who has had three strokes says the level of support and education is not enough for young people.
Strokes are one of New Zealand's biggest killers and it doesn't just affect older people.
They can affect anyone and 25–30 percent of them are experienced by people under the age of 65. About a quarter are people aged between 18 and 54. The number of people experiencing strokes will rise by 40 percent over the next decade, according to the Stroke Foundation NZ.
A stroke is a brain attack, which is a sudden interruption of blood flow to part of the brain causing it to stop working and eventually damaging brain cells, the Foundation said.
One person who knows about strokes all too well is Jessica Penberthy, who's had three of them.
Penberthy had her first stroke when she was living in London as a 28-year-old and said it happened out of the blue.
"I was getting ready for my first day at work, straightening my hair, and all of a sudden my arm just dropped and I had no idea what was going on. The only thing I could associate it was what was having a stroke," she told AM.
Penberthy said the current systems in New Zealand are designed for older people, and there is not enough support in place for younger individuals who have a stroke.
"So when I went through all of my strokes, all of the rehab and physiotherapy and everything was made for someone who's elderly, who may be older. They've had these strokes and they're not really that mobile," she said.
"So a lot of it was learning for me, learning for the doctors and the physios on how to deal with someone who is young, who has had a stroke and more and more people who are of my age or under 54 are having strokes."
Even after having three strokes and doing all the tests, doctors can't work out why she's having all of them.
Penberthy told AM she worries "all the time" about having another stroke but is learning to deal with the mental toll it takes.
"Not always [on her mind] because I've kind of had that time to kind of deal with it emotionally and mentally and everything and I've put it to the side," she told AM.
"So since coming back to New Zealand, doctors have done all the tests possible and they still don't know what the cause was. I'm on preventative medication. I kind of know if I do have another stroke, kind of what to do."
Penberthy told AM after having three strokes, she's aware of the signs that she might be having another one.
Her biggest tip for Kiwis is to know about the FAST symptoms. They are:
- Face: Is it drooping on one side?
- Arm: Is one arm weak?
- Speech: Is it mixed-up, slurred or lost?
- Take Action: Call 111 immediately.
Watch the full interview with Jessica Penberthy above.
