A GRANDMOTHER is grateful to her sister, who diagnosed her stroke after seeing a television advertisement.

Gillian Longman, 60, was at home in Pitsea with husband, Dennis, and sister, Chris, when her speech suddenly became slurred.

Chris noticed one side of her sister’s mouth was drooping and recognised the symptoms as a possible stroke from the ad, which highlights the acronym “FAST” – face, arm, speech and time – to identify a possible stroke and take action as soon as possible.

She dialled 999 and paramedics arrived within five minutes.

Mrs Longman said: “I was very frightened, especially when I realised I couldn’t walk. I felt like jelly.

“But when I heard people talking about stroke, I kept saying, ‘no, it can’t be’.

“I had felt completely fine all day before it happened.”

Mrs Longman arrived at Basildon Hospital’s A&E department at 10.40pm on Saturday, and was assessed five minutes later by a specialist stroke nurse.

She then had a CT scan, which showed her stroke had been caused by a blood clot on the brain.

She was given a clot-busting drug, known as thrombolysis, which breaks up the clot and restores the normal blood supply to the brain.

Until she suffered the stroke, Mrs Longman had led an active life, helping to care for some of her 11 grandchildren and walking her three dogs.

She works at a supermarket in Pitsea, although she is on sick leave recovering from a broken hip. She added: “I remember there were so many staff around me, and them explaining about the clotbusting drugs.

“All I could think of was my grandchildren, and how I didn’t want them to see me like this, so I said: ‘go for it’.”

Mrs Longman said she began to feel better within an hour of receiving the thrombolysis.

She was moved to the hyper acute stroke unit for hourly monitoring, then to the acute stroke unit.

She added: “The care has been brilliant. I can’t fault anyone – if you need them, they come.

“I had my three children in Basildon Hospital and came here when I broke my hip last year, so I knew I would be fine here.”

Three days later, Mrs Longman was able to leave the hospital and is on her way to a full recovery.