Two days prior to her stroke, she was feeling very anxious and had started having twitches in her arm.
Ciara Brennan and her partner Sean
It’s almost four years since Ciara Brennan had a stroke at just 41 years old. The now 44-year-old from Co Fermanagh was a childminder and loved crafting, knitting and reading.
Two days prior to her stroke, Ciara was feeling very anxious and had started having twitches in her arm. On the morning of Saturday, July 2 2022, she got up, her partner was at work, and the children were still in bed, so she smoked a cigarette in the bathroom.
Sharing her story to mark Stroke Prevention Day 2026 this Thursday, the mum said: “When I got up, I hadn’t the strength in my left arm or leg to get down the stairs. I didn’t know what was happening to me. When my partner came home, we went straight to A&E.”
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When Ciara arrived at the hospital, the doctor told her that her blood pressure was 188/99 – anything over 140/90 is considered high when checked by a health professional. She had further tests, including an MRI, over the next few days which confirmed she’d had a stroke.
Ciara says she stopped smoking that very same day and also started to eat a healthy, balanced diet: “It was such a scary time. Quitting smoking was one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do, but I knew I had to do it. I would encourage people to get the help they need to stop smoking.
“I look at life differently now and I try not to get stressed about things that are out of my control. High blood pressure runs in my family, and so I really want more people to get their blood pressure checked out regularly – no matter what age they are.”
Nearly 414 people will have a stroke every day in the UK – that’s one person every three and a half minutes – by 2035 unless the public, NHS, and the Government tackle prevention. The Stroke Association is expecting the number of people having a first or second stroke to increase to more than 151,000 a year by 2035.
Currently, 280 people have a stroke every day in the UK, which is one person every five minutes. Stroke destroys people’s lives and every day in the UK, it leaves around 240 survivors at risk of being unable to see, speak, move, or even swallow. It is also the fourth leading cause of death in the UK.
As the UK’s population ages, more people are living with long-term conditions which increase the risk of stroke. This includes high blood pressure, which is the cause of around half of all strokes.
The Stroke Association is encouraging the public to help protect themselves against stroke by monitoring their blood pressure regularly and taking steps to keep it at a healthy level. This includes eating a healthy diet, not smoking or vaping, getting regular exercise, and not drinking excessive amounts of alcohol. Blood pressure checks are available from the GP, participating pharmacies and Chest, Heart and Stroke Northern Ireland include them as part of their Well Checks.
Ciara joined the Stroke Warriors Support Group in Fermanagh, which is an independent group who are part of the Stroke Group Network and says she really benefited from the help and support she received: “I would encourage other people in a similar situation to reach out and get the help and support they need from the Stroke Association. I am determined to not let what happened to me dictate the rest of my life.”
Alasdair O’Hara, Northern Ireland Director at the Stroke Association, added: “There are more people affected by stroke than ever before. The risk factors of stroke are silent killers as there’s a real lack of awareness about how smoking, poor diet, drinking a lot of alcohol, and not getting regular exercise causes high blood pressure and therefore stores problems up for later life.
“Already one in four people who have a stroke are of working age, but it can happen to anyone. Stroke changes lives in an instant and can impact on a stroke survivor’s ability to live physically and mentally well. That’s why it’s important we all take simple steps to reduce our risk of stroke by regulating our blood pressure, a major risk factor for stroke.”
The Stroke Association supports stroke survivors and their families by phone, at home, and in the community. Find out more at www.stroke.org.uk.
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