Happy, healthy, with holidays on the horizon, John Duenzl had it all in December in 2019, until a shock stroke forced him to re-evaluate everything.
He had finished work for the year, put his out of office message on when he packed up the family for a much-needed trip to Halifax Beach.
"It was a normal day at the beach, I had thrown a ball into the water, I swam out to get it and I started to lose my balance, vision and coordination. I couldn't control my arms to swim and was screaming for my wife Trudy to save me," John said.
"Thankfully there were a number of people on the beach who recognised that I was experiencing some of the F.A.S.T signs of stroke. They pulled me from the water and called an ambulance while other strangers looked after our kids who were two and 11 at the time."
A brain scan revealed the fit and healthy 37-year-old had experienced a stroke. It was a huge shock for the health-conscious father who visited the gym five times a week.
"I was fortunate enough to still be able to talk and I defied the odds with my ability to walk. I felt excruciating pain in my head in the days after my stroke and I feared I'd have another."
Since then, John has taken further steps to lower his stroke risk and blood pressure, including cutting out coffee cold turkey, and taking up skateboarding and surfing to improve his balance.
He and the family also made the move from Melbourne to Newcastle for a treechange.
"I wish we had done it sooner, but my stroke was the catalyst for change. My stroke has made me more aware of the need to focus on my family and the things that matter most," he said.
As he approaches the third anniversary of his stroke, he has learnt to appreciate the little things in life.
"It's not just Christmas that means more to me, every day of my life is better. I thought I was doing a good job at looking after myself before, but that was my lesson to do better. I now look at life through fresh eyes, I've gone through the emotional trauma and appreciate life much more now," he said.
John is among the 145,000 stroke survivors living in New South Wales. His message to others is to act F.A.S.T and learn the acronym to save someone else's life.
- FACE - has their mouth drooped?
- ARMS - Can they lift both arms?
- SPEECH - Is their speech slurred?
- TIME is critical. If any of these signs appears, call 000 immediately.
