Woman left unable to use arm after stroke at 26 fears the pill may be to blame

31 October 2023 , 18:09

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Donna King with husband Nicky (Image: Donna King / Stroke Association)

A young mum who suffered a life-changing stroke months after giving birth fears the combination contraceptive pill may be to blame.

Donna King, from County Durham, was just 26 when she survived a shocking stroke while at home with her four-and-a-half month old baby. Eleven years later, she has spoken about her heartbreaking experience. Her little girl Millie is now 11, but Donna's not been able to carry her since she was a baby. It comes as new research from the Stroke Association shows that 60 per cent of the British public wrongly believe young people don't have strokes.

Donna, who is now 37, was working as a videographer at weddings, but a career she enjoyed was brought to a shuddering halt. Years on, she still only has full use of one of her arms following the stroke, which she blames on a side-effect of taking the combined contraceptive pill. She didn't have any of the "typical" symptoms associated with having a stroke, instead suffered from vertigo and hearing problems. Her partner - now her husband - Nicky rushed home and found her sick on the bathroom floor before calling an ambulance.

Donna's stroke came just months after she had her daughter (Donna King / Stroke Association)

Donna said; "I managed to make sure that Millie was on the bed and couldn’t roll off thankfully but I couldn’t get my vision right. When the paramedics arrived they thought I had a bad ear infection and told me to go to bed but I was begging them to take me to hospital."

Chronicle Live reported that as her condition worsened - Donna lost speech and then the use of her body and ability to walk - she was in a critical condition, and went on to spend more than three months in hospital. She said: "I was critical for the first few weeks and I couldn’t even see Millie until after a couple of weeks in hospital when I had stabilised more. I had to use a spelling chart to communicate and be taken around in a wheelchair."

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Despite regaining her speech and learning to walk again, Donna can still only use one arm and hand and uses shoe splints to aid her walking. Donna feels like she has missed out on so much of motherhood. "I missed out on so many milestones of motherhood but Nicky was amazing and Millie learnt to do lots of things on her own like doing her hair and tying her shoe laces. I’m so proud of her though, we learnt to do so many things together with me in recovery and her growing up," she said.

Donna also spoke of the career impact on her. She said: "I had started my own business in something that I really loved and then at that point it was all brought falling down. I couldn't lift my arms never mind run around after brides for a video."

Now Donna works to support the NHS and the Stroke Association to improve care for people going through what she has. She said: "I have missed out on so much, but I’ve worked very hard to improve things too – I’ve just had to get on with it. I even now make videos on how to change a nappy with one hand! Things have changed dramatically yes, but 13 is now my lucky number as that was the day that February that I survived my stroke."

Looking ahead, Donna thinks it's vital that the public and medical professionals have better awareness of the fact that strokes can hit people as young as she was. She added: "It was over ten years ago. One thing I would like to say is that it happened when I went back onto the combined pill. I was told I had an ear infection. There's a real stigma about stroke."

Sam Volpe