A footballer’s wife saved his life when he had a stroke giving him the chance to build a new life as a Paralympic sports coach.
Chris Darch, 47, is now paralysed down his left side and in a wheelchair after a stroke doctors didn’t think he would survive.
But just two years after the devastating brain bleed the determined sportsman is coaching disability sport.
Former Fort William FC manager Chris was playing in a charity match when he was hit on the side of the head. He shook off the injury and thought nothing more of it.
But he recalled: “That night I was in the kitchen making my wife a cup of tea and I stumbled. I fell back and hit a cupboard, causing all the pots and pans to fall.
“That alerted my wife Sharon to come through. She’s a school nurse, so she spotted right away that my face had dropped on one side and I was slurring my words.
“I was rushed to intensive care. The next day I was put into the stroke ward and I stayed there for eight months.
“I had just been told I’d had a stroke and then on top of that I wasn’t even able to see my family because of Covid.
“I am now paralysed on my left-hand side, so I had a lot of rehabilitation work to do before I could even think of being sent home.
“My main aim was to get out, to get home. That was my goal from the start. The doctors told me I was very lucky to be alive, that I shouldn’t have made it.”
That’s when the care of Gillian Hornby, a Community Services Coordinator for Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland, changed his life.
Chris said the connection had been “invaluable” in helping him adjust and, despite his disability he built a new life coaching Paralympic sport.
He now plays and coaches boccia – a Paralympic sport – with Highland Disability Sports and hopes to return to his recruitment job in some capacity next year.
Chris said: “Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland is now a massive part of my life. It has touched every element of my recovery. “It’s why I can’t wait to become a volunteer because they show how important it is to help people. I couldn’t think of a better organisation to be involved in.
“Covid restrictions meant I wasn’t able to meet Gillian until I’d been discharged from hospital. The first thing she did was sit me down and talk through my goals – what did I want from the Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland support, what could I achieve and how could I do it.
“I’ve always been sporty. I played football, I coached and was always involved.
“But Gillian helped me realise this is my new life. I had to mourn my old life and accept my new one and build on it. My life isn’t over, it’s just different.
“I’m not running around a pitch anymore but I’m sitting on an electric wheelchair and I’m throwing balls. It’s the same but different, too.”
Chris is fronting CHSS’s Christmas Appeal and urged people to donate to help people like him.
