One Nottinghamshire woman has opened up about her experience of having a bleed on the brain. Now, she tries to be a listener for those who are struggling or have struggled with the same.
Patricia Burgess, 61, had four brain aneurysms back in 2003. An aneurysm is a bulge in a blood vessel caused by a weakness in the blood vessel wall, usually where it branches.
Patricia, known to many as 'Pat', said she didn't have the "foggiest" idea what an aneurysm was before she had several - but she and her family found out the dangers pretty quickly. Card making and crafts became a hobby for Pat while she recovered - and now she has her own business in Hucknall, where she shares part of her health journey on a poster in the window which has caught some people's attention and led them to open up, too.
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Casting her mind back, Pat told Nottinghamshire Live: "This happened in September 2003. I was putting the washing up on the line and then found myself on the floor. My son was only about five or six at the time and he rang my husband but we didn't think anything of it at the time."
Pat, who has two sons, thought at the time she did not have any symptoms - but after her neck began to hurt, her husband took her to A&E. Usually, the symptoms of a brain aneurysm include feeling or being sick, a stiff neck, sensitivity to light, sudden confusion, loss of consciousness and weaknesses on one side of the body.
Pat added: "We were waiting around in the hospital and a doctor told me it could be a broken neck. After X-rays and a CT scan, they came back with the results which showed a bleed on the brain.
"I had heard of an aneurysm but I had no idea what it was." Doctors at Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham were swift in operating on Pat and they found four aneurysms.
Pat added: "They got two of the aneurysms but they could only get the other two by open surgery which we had to wait a maximum of two weeks for. When I went for open surgery, I just remember looking at the clock - it was eight o'clock but I can't remember anything after that.
"I remember on the ward, they were really short-staffed but they were always there for you." Pat spent a lot of six-and-a-half weeks in hospital where her children and family would visit her.
She said: "My husband used his sense of humour a lot and would stop at the hospital all day, it was hard. How do you explain to your children that if mummy doesn't get operated on, she might die?
"At that time, my husband had to learn how to use the washing machine and the boys' schools were great too. When I came out of hospital, I couldn't hold a pen but eventually I took a college course for crafting and enjoyed it."
Now, Pat has made a full recovery. She does, however, have to wear dark glasses due to light sensitivity.
In the years after recovering, Pat would have craft stalls at markets in Nottingham until she went on to open her first shop in Kimberley. In July 2021, she moved into her Hucknall premises, AC Crafts on High Street, where on Wednesdays between 1pm and 4pm there is a 'crafty natters' group. People can drop by for support or just come and make crafts for £2.
Pat described her journey as "eventful". Her husband Eric said: "I always try to forget what happened. I wasn't told what to expect.
"Pat had pipes coming out of her head - and I remember at the time my boss said 'don't worry about your wages, go and be with Pat'. Some people would let something like this take over them but that hasn't been the case for us," he added as he told of his pride at Pat.
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