Putting the kettle on, DJ Mark Goodier was suddenly struck by an agonising headache.
He made it upstairs and put wife Jacqueline’s cup down but then collapsed.
The voice of Radio One’s Top 40 singles chart for the best part of 10 years, Mark says he realised he was having a stroke but couldn’t do anything about it.
Luckily Jacqueline and daughter Grace were there to save Mark’s life.
He explains: “I was not oblivious to it, because if you’ve had a stroke you’re aware of what’s going on but your ability to do anything is virtually nil.”
The former Top of the Pops host describes the pain as intolerable and says he couldn’t stand or move.
“No form of determination can get you past the fact that you’ve had a stroke,” he adds.
“I had all the classic symptoms of a stroke: my face had fallen, my speech had gone and I couldn’t raise my arms.”
Mark is supporting NHS England to highlight the FAST campaign. It stands for: Facial drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulties and Time – meaning it’s time to act, as quickly as possible.
Mark, now 61, credits his family’s swiftness in helping him with playing a significant part in saving his life when he had the stroke, seven years ago.
“The FAST campaign is a really crucial message,” he adds.
Mark says Grace was around 18 at the time of his stroke, adding: “Because my daughter had seen the ads growing up, the ambulance was called within 10 minutes and I was at the hospital in 40 minutes.
“It’s that speed to get to a proper diagnosis which gives them the opportunity to thrombolyse [treatment to break up a blood clot] you and thin the blood.
“In many cases that works and if they can do that it massively improves your chances of recovery and not having too much degradation afterwards.
“They did that to me and it didn’t work, so my brain had to work out new ways of doing things – which luckily it managed to do.”
Today, as well as spinning tunes from the 70s, 80s and 90s on Greatest Hits Radio, he presents a podcast called Stroke Stories because he is keen to drive home the message that it’s not just older people who are affected by strokes, which are the UK’s fourth largest killer.
“Before I had a stroke I thought that strokes only happened to older people,” Mark confesses.
“But on the show we hear from people who have had strokes as teenagers and others in their 20s and 30s.
“We even spoke to one person who survived having a stroke when they were in their mother’s womb.”
Doctors could never quite pinpoint why he suffered a stroke. But they say a major contributory factor was probably stress, given that he was previously fit and healthy and even completed the London marathon twice.
Mark says: “I love to work. But when you don’t get the work/ life balance right, you don’t always know you’re pushing yourself beyond what your body will tolerate. I probably overworked myself for 30 years.”
After making a full recovery, Mark went back to work though. Then he suffered a second stroke in 2017, which he believes was a sign he was pushing himself far too soon.
“That second stroke was my body’s way of saying ‘you still don’t get this do you?’” he says.
"You can’t go back and do what you were doing before. You have to make some adjustments.”
This time he was much less keen to rush back to work, taking plenty of time off and making sure he recuperated.
Mark says: “It’s tempting to think you can pick up where you left off.
“But what the second stroke taught me was that I definitely didn’t want a third stroke.”
Mark grew up in a family that loved classical music, even playing the cello himself. So how did he end up becoming one of Britain’s best-loved disc jockeys?
He says: “When I was a kid my family didn’t have a television. “I remember going to a new secondary school when I was 11 and all the kids in the playground were talking about Top of the Pops.
“Someone turned to me and said ‘Mark, what did you think?’ and I faked it, saying it was great.
“I remember feeling so embarrassed and out of the loop as I didn’t want to admit we didn’t have a TV.
“After that I went home and tuned my mum and dad’s little radio from Radio 3 to Radio 1. I was captivated by Johnnie Walker and John Peel and thought what an amazing job that would be, to discover musical talent.
“That’s what inspired me to become a DJ. I’m extremely lucky to do a job I love. If suffering two strokes has taught me anything, it’s that you should be grateful for what you’ve got and try and take steps to make sure you live long enough to enjoy it.
“I’m so glad to be alive.”
