Carotid Artery Dissection Nearly Took Everything – But I’m Still Standing

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21d ago 1:06:03

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Surviving a Carotid Artery Dissection: Adam’s Journey from Stroke to Strength

When Adam Moore left work on a hot day in September 2023, he had no idea his life was about to change forever. A long-time athlete and dedicated hockey player, Adam brushed off a subtle feeling that maybe—just maybe—he shouldn’t play that night’s game. But driven by team loyalty and a lifetime of showing up for others, he laced up anyway.

That evening, a seemingly minor knock to the neck during the match would lead to a carotid artery dissection—a rare and often misunderstood condition that can result in stroke. Within hours, Adam experienced vision loss, extreme fatigue, and disorientation. By morning, he was blind in both eyes, unable to stand, and in the early stages of a life-threatening stroke.

What Is a Carotid Artery Dissection?

A carotid artery dissection occurs when a tear forms in the wall of the carotid artery—the major blood vessel that supplies blood to the brain. Blood can enter the tear and split the layers of the artery wall, restricting blood flow or causing clot formation. This condition is one of the leading causes of ischemic strokes in younger adults, often triggered by trauma, even if mild.

Adam’s dissection was discovered after he arrived at the hospital. Sadly, due to delayed ambulance arrival and the rural location of his home in the New Forest, he was outside the window to receive TPA (tissue plasminogen activator)—a clot-busting drug that’s most effective within 4.5 hours of symptom onset. While doctors stabilized him, the dissection had already caused extensive neurological damage.

Diagnosis and Treatment: Why Ultrasound Matters

Diagnosis of carotid artery dissection often involves ultrasound, MRI, or CT angiography. In Adam’s case, imaging confirmed the dissection and its location on the right carotid artery. Interestingly, the artery did heal on its own—but not without complication. The scar tissue left behind created a small “bulb” that increased his risk of clot formation. To manage this, Adam was placed on long-term blood thinners, a non-invasive way to prevent recurrence.

Although stenting was considered, it was ruled out due to the complexity of the case—a decision many stroke survivors can relate to when facing difficult choices about intervention and risk.

Rehabilitation and the Long Road Ahead

Adam spent three months in hospital, including time in rehab at facilities in Southampton and London. He was paralyzed on his left side, experienced peripheral vision loss, and later suffered seizures as a complication of the stroke. These setbacks were accompanied by personal ones too—his marriage ended due to the strain of caregiving and trauma.

And yet, in the face of all this, Adam began to rise.

With the help of a private neuro physio, Adam has regained the ability to walk (often with a stick), and he’s even resumed activities like bowling and golf with his son. His left hand remains mostly immobile, and his fatigue is intense and lingering, but Adam is determined. He’s also embraced the power of peer support, finding encouragement in the recovery journeys of others.

“The hardest bit is not knowing whether you’re going to come out of it recovered… but I just don’t think I’ll accept that I might not. I’ll just keep being positive and working towards it.”

Lessons From Adam’s Journey

Listen to Your Gut – Adam ignored his instinct that something wasn’t right. Gut-brain communication matters, especially for people living with or recovering from chronic conditions.
Stroke Recovery Takes Time – There’s no fixed timeline. Healing is often nonlinear, and progress may come in unexpected ways.
Fatigue Is Real – Post-stroke fatigue isn’t laziness; it’s neurological. Managing energy becomes part of everyday life.
Community Helps – Whether it’s through online groups, rehab centers, or conversations with others who’ve been there, connecting with fellow survivors can make all the difference.
There Is Hope – Even when things feel stuck, small wins—like standing up unaided or seeing a familiar face clearly—can build momentum.

Why This Story Matters

Carotid artery dissection survival stories like Adam’s shed light on lesser-known stroke causes, especially in active adults. It’s also a reminder that even when diagnosis is delayed, recovery is still possible, and life can still be rich and full of meaning.

As more people discover the Recovery After Stroke podcast from their hospital beds, just days after diagnosis, stories like Adam’s are reaching people when they need them most. That’s the power of shared experience, lived insight, and showing up with honesty.

If You’re Recovering From Stroke…

You are not alone.

Support is closer than you think. Recovery may not always be fast or easy, but with community, the right professionals, and your own courage, you can move toward something better—step by step.

To hear Adam’s full interview and learn more about his path to healing, tune in to the Recovery After Stroke podcast on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

Surviving a Carotid Artery Dissection Interview

Carotid artery dissection survival story inspiring stroke survivors to keep going, seek rehab, and embrace hope even in the hardest times.

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Highlights:

00:00 Introduction and Purpose of the Podcast
01:01 Adam Moore’s Introduction and Initial Symptoms
03:20 Sudden Stroke, from Ice Hockey to Life-Changing Moment
11:55 Carotid Artery Dissection Survivor: Regaining Sight
19:00 From Hoist to Hope: Adam’s Long Road After Stroke and Seizures
22:17 Deep Recovery: Adam’s Carotid Artery Dissection and Healing Journey
31:07 Fighting Post-Stroke Fatigue
41:48 Exploring Hyperbaric Oxygen: A High-Tech Hope for Stroke Recovery
52:09 BEFAST: The Lifesaving Acronym Every Stroke Survivor Knows
1:00:36 Hope, Uncertainty & Resilience: Adam’s Stroke Recovery Journey

Transcript:

Introduction

Bill Gasiamis 0:00
Hello everyone, and welcome to Recovery After Stroke. Before we dive into today’s inspiring conversation, I want to thank you for being a part of this incredible community, whether you’re a stroke survivor, a caregiver or somebody looking to understand the recovery journey more deeply, your presence here means a lot more and more people are now finding this podcast while they’re still in hospital, just days after being diagnosed with stroke.

Bill Gasiamis 0:27
And that is exactly what I set out to achieve when I began this podcast back in 2015 to shorten the time between stroke and finding support from others who truly understand this wasn’t possible back then for me, but now it is, and it’s happening because of every single guest who has shared their story, every listener who’s left a comment, a review or even just press play, your support makes that reach possible, and with your help, we can keep expanding it.

Initial Symptoms Of A Carotid Artery Dissection Survivor

Carotid Artery Dissection Survivor
Bill Gasiamis 1:01
If you believe in what we’re doing here and want to help cover the cost of production so we can keep bringing these important stories to the people who need them the most. Please consider becoming a Patreon. At patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke. Now, I’m honored to introduce today’s guest, Adam Moore. Adam is a stroke survivor whose life changed dramatically after a carotid artery dissection following a hockey game. What began as a normal day ended with sudden vision loss, seizures and an entirely new reality.

Bill Gasiamis 1:35
In this episode, Adam shares what it’s like navigating post stroke fatigue, dealing with uncertainty, managing his recovery and staying hopeful. As a father and former business owner, his story is raw, honest and full of insights that I know will resonate with many of you. Let’s dive in. Adam Moore. Welcome to the podcast.

Adam Moore 1:56
Thank you, Bill.

Bill Gasiamis 1:57
My pleasure. So the light is a bit of an issue for you, and hence this is going to be a little bit darker. This recording the overhead light can bother you, and it’s on at the moment, but you try to avoid lights. Tell me a little bit about that.

Adam Moore 2:18
Yeah, so after the straight after the stroke? Well, when the stroke happened, I was actually blind in one eye to start with, and then I lost that sight in both eyes. But then the following morning, I woke up and could see again, thank goodness. But after that, it just seemed I had to wear sunglasses all the time or an eye mask, because I just couldn’t look at any lights at all. It was really, really affected.

Bill Gasiamis 2:44
What kind of stroke did you have?

Adam Moore 2:48
Ischemic.

Bill Gasiamis 2:51
Ischemic, and where was it located, if it affected both your eyes?

Adam Moore 2:56
So it’s right-hand side. It was a arthroid artery dissection, right-hand side.

Bill Gasiamis 3:17
Was it the carotid artery?

Adam Moore 3:18
Carotid artery, that’s right, yes.

Sudden Stroke, from Ice Hockey to Life-Changing Moment

Bill Gasiamis 3:20
How did the dissection occurred? Do you are you aware of an injury or anything that you sustained?

Adam Moore 3:25
Yes, so it was back in September 2023 it was a normal day at work, it was the hottest day of the year. Quite busy day at work. No different to normal, but I play ice hockey and roll hockey. I have come for over bit 30 old years, and I had a hockey game scheduled for that evening, and I came home from work that night, and I had a sort of gut feeling I wasn’t sure if I should be playing that night. And I said to my wife, my son, I’m not sure if I really want to go tonight. And they both looked at me and said “Well, that’s not like you. You always want to play.” And I do, I loved playing.

Adam Moore 4:16
And they said, you can’t let your teammates down. And which is another good point, and I, you know, bit of a team player, so yeah, and I didn’t really think it was a good sort of, well, it’s not really good way of teaching your son either, is it? Today’s teammates down. So I went, and I should have listened to my gut, really, because I shouldn’t have gone. I went and, it was a very roll hockey, and ice hockey is a very physical game. It’s full contact, it’s great game, don’t get me wrong, it’s very exciting, but I took it was full on.

Adam Moore 4:57
I took a knock to the neck, which I didn’t think ended of Bill, because it wasn’t like a trauma at all. It was just a slight knock. I carried on playing the game, and I started to see some sort of, like, almost orbs in my eyesight. But I was given it my everything I could do in work and life and sports, and I carried on playing, just thought I’d over exerted myself, like you do when you exercise and you start to see, sort of starts in your eyes. Even managed to score a goal, finished the game, had a bit of banter with the lads in the change room.

Adam Moore 5:43
Got showered, changed, jumped in my van, put all my kit away, and and the kit bags are huge with all that gear in it. I was giving my friend lift home. It was about an hour and 20, an hour and 30 minutes home drive. And on the drive home again, my eyes, the street lights were sort of Halo in, and the other car lights were Halo in, and that’s the only thing that I could think. This is a bit strange, I’m not happy about this. There was no other, nothing else. You know, I showered, I could carry everything, there was nothing. Was like, none of my limbs were not working.

Adam Moore 6:25
I wasn’t falling over or anything. Drove all the way home, dropped my friend off. I must admit, by then, I was actually thinking, I’m not sure if I should drive. Perhaps I should get him to drop me home. But I did drive, I drove. I drove really, really carefully home, drove into my own driveway, pulled up, got out of the van, didn’t fall out of the van, got out of the van, locked it up, walked into my house, walked up the stairs, got to my bedroom, and my wife was awake, and she said, “You okay?” I said “No, I don’t feel very well. My eyes just don’t feel right.”

Adam Moore 7:05
And, you know, our wives are sometimes have paracetamol in a glass of water, they think, seems to sort everything. So she gave me that, and I got into bed, and I fell asleep for, well, what was literally a minute or so, and I couldn’t see out of one eye. Just lost the vision completely. And then I fell asleep again for another five minutes, and woke up, couldn’t see a thing out of both eyes. And that was really scary. Really, really scary. Managed to get to the bathroom, sat on the toilet, went to get off the toilet, and then collapsed, and that’s when she realized that I was having a stroke.

Adam Moore 7:59
I’d not known about strokes and so or she, so we were kind of a little bit sort of blase about it all, but she phoned an ambulance, and they sort of confirmed, I think I’d had a little bit of sort of slurred speech by then, but the fact I couldn’t stand up, and I was quite a strong person, and I was doing my damnedest to try and get up, and I could not get up.

Adam Moore 8:26
The ambulance took a long time to get out to me. I ended up going to Southampton General Hospital, but it because of the distance of where I was playing the game and the amount of time the ambulance took to get to me. We live quite out in the New Forest, which is quite out in the sticks. And I was well out of the TPA time, unfortunately. And I was begging them to give you the TPA shop, but they said they could do more harm than good, so we can’t, we really can’t give you it. Yeah, like they say, time, more time, more damage.

Bill Gasiamis 9:05
Yeah, your gut instinct, that’s an interesting thing. I’ve experienced that before.

Bill Gasiamis 9:05
I know, yeah, I’ve heard you talk about the brain gut, or the gut brain?

Bill Gasiamis 9:21
The gut brain, yeah.

Adam Moore 9:22
And to be honest, Bill, I’ve had it before. I had a holiday in the Maldives before, and I was poorly then, and had a fall and concussed myself. And at the airport at Heathrow before we flew out, I had the same gut feeling that I shouldn’t be going. And we had horrific time out there as well. So yeah, there’s some of the safer I think there it is.

Bill Gasiamis 9:48
Let’s take a moment here to reflect on Adam’s story so far from Carotid Artery Dissection to life altering recovery, his experience reminds us of how suddenly life can change and our strength can emerge even in the most unexpected places. If this podcast has been meaningful to you, one simple way to support it is by not skipping the ads. It may seem small, but it genuinely helps offset production costs and allows me to keep bringing you more episodes like this one, and for those of you who’d like to go further, please consider joining us on patreon at patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke.

Bill Gasiamis 10:27
Your support helps ensure these stories keep reaching those who need them most right from the very beginning of their recovery. Now, let’s get back to Adam’s story and hear how he’s continuing to push forward in the face of so many challenges it, there is definitely something to say with for it.

Bill Gasiamis 10:45
Do you think maybe, well, you can’t. It’s also you can’t really say until the thing that you thought you shouldn’t be doing turned bad, like it’s such a difficult thing to get your head around, rise your head that’s trying to make sense of this sensation, or this feeling, or this feedback that you’re getting from your gut, and then it only turns to shit when it’s turned to shit.

Adam Moore 11:14
Yes, you kind of right.

Bill Gasiamis 11:16
Yeah, and then you kind of go “I should have listened to my gut.” But like, how do you do that? How do you actually do that? And what would you have done, not played, sat on the sidelines, missed the game. You wouldn’t have had the neck injury, and then you wouldn’t have had a stroke, and then you would have known, how would you have known that it was the right decision to stay?

Adam Moore 11:41
Wouldn’t, I could have had a car question the way, crash on the way up there, they’ve never know you’re here.

Bill Gasiamis 11:45
Yeah. So it’s just bizarre and strange. How long did you spend in hospital, and then what were you dealing with?

Adam Moore 11:54
Three months.

Carotid Artery Dissection Survivor: Regaining Sight

Bill Gasiamis 11:55
Three months?

Adam Moore 11:55
Yes, three months. I was in Southampton general, and then I went to Limington. We which is a hospital in New Forest, which is very nice. And then I ended up in a rehab ward in a place called Snowden in Southampton. But then I realized I had private health care, so I ended up going to a very, very good hospital in London, where I was up there for a good three weeks, and I managed to get home before Christmas at 2023.

Bill Gasiamis 12:29
What kind of deficits were you being rehabilitated to overcome?

Adam Moore 12:34
Well, I lost all my left side, really. Luckily, my speech wasn’t lost because it’s my right side.

Adam Moore 12:43
My speech was fine. My eyesight, as I say, was affected peripheral vision, and I’ve lost a bit of normal sort of this bit my right eyes bit blurry. I can see Bill, but I can’t see as well as I used to. But, saying that, you know, I’m not blind. I was blind that night. I couldn’t see a thing. And I got a train up the other day to London to go to Queen Square up a limb, which I’m on their on their books at the moment, for treatment.

Adam Moore 13:15
And there was a chap that was, he must have been 70, 80, on the train with me, and he was completely blind with a with a cane, walk into a white cane, and I just thought, wow, you know, he’s completely blind, and he’s getting the train up on his own, you know, I can see. I can actually see. Yes, I can’t see as well, but I can see. So there’s always someone you know, worse.

Bill Gasiamis 13:38
Yeah, and but getting on with business as well. Get, you know, supposedly worse, according to you, and then getting on with business. Know what they’re going to do? Just sit in the house, and, I don’t know, wait for the years to go by. What about your left side? What’s it like now? How does it feel?

Adam Moore 13:56
Well, I see a private physio, that’s a neuro physio who’s amazing, he’s got me on my feet. I walk with a walking stick, but I can walk without it as well. Just not I’m building up a stamina, to be honest, to walk further without it. I would like to get I used to run, I loved running. I used to be very, very active. Got my own business. So yes, I really want to get back to some sort of a good recovery, and I will push myself as much as I can to do that. I’ve got an 11 year old boy, so yeah, I’ve got to recover, and I will take time, but I’m going to push and push and push.

Bill Gasiamis 14:42
What line of work have you been?

Adam Moore 14:45
So it’s car repairs, body work on cars. I don’t know if you’ve heard of a dent man, you’ve got a nice new if you’ve got a nice new car and someone opens their door and puts a ding in it, I come along and just massage there. Now, you know, you never know who’s there.

Bill Gasiamis 15:02
That’s magic, that’s magician work there, mate, I love that.

Adam Moore 15:06
Yeah, I really miss it as well. I loved my job. Absolutely loved it, it’s a real good craft.

Bill Gasiamis 15:13
So that’s been two years you’ve been.

Adam Moore 15:16
Well, almost two years in September.

Bill Gasiamis 15:19
Yeah, that you’ve been out of action, and things are progressing. You’re finding that things are improving, but it’s been a long haul.

Adam Moore 15:30
I couldn’t move my leg, I couldn’t move my arm. I can move both now. I can’t move my fingers yet, but it’s things are progressing very slowly, but they’re progressing so some people say, you know, I’ve had physio said to me, your arms not working. Now it’ll never work, which you know is wrong. And it pushes my other physio to make it work, which is great, and pushes me as well. But I’m quite a determined, positive person.

Adam Moore 16:04
So and even my eyesight, you know, I’ve had people say it’s nerve damage. It’s never going to come back once nerve damage is done, and it might not, but it also might. People have also said that people’s eyesight have improved over time.

Bill Gasiamis 16:16
So, yeah, you’re in a really early stage of recovery, and I don’t know anything about your condition. I’m not a doctor, so this is not medical advice or anything like that, but there is definitely a possibility to hold on to hope. And I’m not sure how much that moves people who hear it, you know there is hope, I don’t know. I get it, but you’re only about 18 months in, and then there’s a lot to go. Like so much, there’s areas in the brain that are still inflamed, that are getting better and healthier.

Bill Gasiamis 16:50
Inflammation is continuing to decrease more and more things will come online, and yes, with rehabilitation and you’re going after it, that’s also supporting the potential for a recovery, and then your you’ve got sounds like your neuro physio is the right guy, the right person on the side.

Adam Moore 17:15
And he said to me the other he said to me the other day, which made me feel great. He said, you’re still recovering. Yeah, he said “You’re still recovering. You’re making improvements. Still you’re not you’re not plate age, you’re still recovering. So you just got be patient.” And I’m not patient, that’s the problem. No one is these days in this world, we’re all so impatient. We just want everything now.

Bill Gasiamis 17:38
Yeah, and yet you have most likely put in the hard yards in another one of your pursuits before where you had no choice but to be patient, even though maybe psychologically your head was going, let’s get this done, or let’s get this sorted. You have to go through the motions of whatever you know the steps are to get to the particular place that you want to get, like playing the sport that you’re playing at 47 you don’t become that. You don’t have that capability without doing lots of training, lots of all these things going to get on on the field and to be there with your teammates.

Bill Gasiamis 18:17
You have to go through a process. And patience is not and patience must is inherent, like it is part of the whole business, and so is this when you look back and reflect, you’ll see that that was probably the best skill for you to learn. The patience, the less time you focus on. Why hasn’t this happened yet? And the more you time you focus on, let me do everything I can to make it happen, the more your progress will continue and improve. And it’s just about being able to then reflect back since 2023 and go “Okay, look how far I’ve already come.”

From Hoist to Hope: Adam’s Long Road After Stroke and Seizures

Adam Moore 19:00
Yeah, I was hoisted out of bed to the loo, and everything I felt, you know, when you see a bit of meat on a hook, you know, butchers, that’s how I felt. I felt absolutely horrendous, it really, I did just feel awful. And I remember saying to my parents, all I want to do is get to the toilet and back on my own, I just want to do that. I don’t want to be moved around on a bloody hoist, it was awful. But the stroke was quite bad, so I ended up with quite a lot of scar tissue, and I ended up having seizures after that, and that was horrendous. Anyone that has seizures after a stroke.

Adam Moore 19:41
You just got a feel for him, because it was just well, my wife left me because of it, because she couldn’t cope with looking after me through it. Because, if you know, it really was, well, my son and her family gray in bed right, had a seizure and stopped breathing, they thought they’d lost me, so it freaked them both out. But thankfully, the medication has balanced now, but that’s taken months to balance that out. It wasn’t a quick fix in that it had to be done out of over such a long period of time, taking you off one drug and getting you onto another.

Bill Gasiamis 20:22
So you’re dealing with stroke, you’re dealing with seizures, and then your wife, your relationship ending.

Adam Moore 20:32
Yep, yep.

Bill Gasiamis 20:35
It’s a lot for one person to go through a short amount of time.

Adam Moore 20:41
Yeah, it’s been horrendous, yeah.

Bill Gasiamis 20:44
Are you living on your own now?

Adam Moore 20:47
No, I live with my parents. Well, they’ve been living with me because of the seizures. I’ve not been living my own now. Now the seizures seem to have stopped, thought it will be, I’ve got the right house, and I’ve got things in things in line where I’ve got a full line and contact lines and stuff like that. Okay, so I need people, so, yeah, things are looking up, but it’s just taken so long, like everything, but stroke is just, so such a long, drawn out.

Bill Gasiamis 21:21
You know, they’ve certainly not like smashing your toe on the coffee table and then being okay a day later. It’s definitely not like that. And you’ve had heaps of injuries, I imagine, in the sport that you play. So you know, you have a sense of, Well, I’ve got to be sideline for a few weeks, and then things will heal, and then I’ll recover, and go back to it.

Adam Moore 21:43
Although played, I played full contact games for over 30 years. To be honest, I’d met until the stroke. I’d never been in hospital. I’d been very, very lucky, very fit and healthy. Yeah, no underlying health issues. So yeah, I have been quite lucky up until but I don’t consider myself lucky at all now, you know, none of it’s lucky, lucky to be alive, yeah, but that’s it.

Bill Gasiamis 22:11
Lucky to have your vision.

Adam Moore 22:13
Yeah.

Deep Recovery: A Carotid Artery Dissection Survivor’s Healing Journey

Carotid Artery Dissection Survivor
Bill Gasiamis 22:17
There’s a bit of luck there. I know that it’s not the kind of situation you want to find yourself in, and then, kind of, like, it’s terrible, like, the the hit on the neck, it like it’s a such a precision hit to get the particular outcome that it got. I mean, that’s ridiculous, that’s just.

Adam Moore 22:37
Well, I didn’t realize how deep the cartoid artery is, it’s not on the surface, it’s quite deep, because I always worried about even, like, sleeping on it, or, like, I don’t know, just even leaning your head over on it, whether it would upset it, because I was told I couldn’t have any deep tissue massages this side or anything.

Bill Gasiamis 23:00
Yeah, fair enough.

Adam Moore 23:01
We’ll see a chiropractor. But they said “No, it’s quite deep. You you’d have to do something, and then you’d have to have another trauma or something like that.” Because you hear about people having, like, I don’t know.

Bill Gasiamis 23:11
Like neck manipulations and having their lottery damage.

Adam Moore 23:16
Yeah, or even that head bed thing for me.

Bill Gasiamis 23:20
Yeah, going to the hairdresser, absolutely, or experiencing whiplash even a low-speed vehicle collision.

Adam Moore 23:34
The other thing as well, is the dissected artery did heal, believe or not. It healed, but it also healed, and rather than just a straight line heal, okay, it healed with a little sort of bulb in it. So they put me on blood thinners, and they worried that if I came off blood thinners, it might catch something in the bulb. I don’t understand why they didn’t put a stent in it, but they didn’t, I don’t know why. They said it wouldn’t have helped but.

Bill Gasiamis 24:04
Yeah, I suppose the stents another level of complication that then gets added to your medical causal clot. And then also, you know, they’ve gotta get it in there, and when you’re in the position that you’re in, you know, probably the less intervention, the better, and the fact that it’s healed is great, but yes, exactly that little lump can create a change in the blood flow and create a low pressure, a little bit of low pressure in the artery, and as a result of that, cause a clot, and then send it up, so build up.

Bill Gasiamis 24:36
So blood thinners are probably the best way to manage that, because it’s a smaller intervention, and it’s something that you can do for a very long time, although it’s not ideal, it’s a really good outcome. And the fact that they didn’t have to go in and do anything to your artery, I think that’s about.

Adam Moore 24:55
I mean, I’ve met so many people. I’ve got to a lot of support groups, different strokes headway. I’ve met some great people on forums as well. Some of the people in the rehab places that had craniotomies, amazing people. And, you know, I’ve they’ve kept in contact. I’ve seen them and they don’t even know they’ve had anything done. And I saw them when they had first had it done. You know, it’s amazing what they’ve, what they can do.

Bill Gasiamis 25:30
The medical world is phenomenal. I mean, look, I don’t know, maybe 50 years ago, you and I wouldn’t be having this conversation if these things good to us, you know, like.

Adam Moore 25:42
But also the people, I mean, these people that had, it’s a dent, a dent in the head, it was, and you could see how much it was affecting their confidence. Yeah, it was almost like a bit of skin covering their brain, up, you know it was, and you could see how it was affecting them. And then I saw him, same guy that I was in rehab with him months later, and the smile on his face because he was back to normal, it was just magical to see that. So nice to see it. Yeah, I still see him now. It’s brilliant, it’s so good.

Bill Gasiamis 26:22
The head, without the skull, without half a skull, is bizarre to me that they even concocted that theory, and they made it happen and proved to be successful, and then put it back in it’s just the whole thing is just mind boggling. I can’t wrap my head around. And I love that there’s idea that that is a thing that they can do that allow the brain to expand or swell or whatever it’s doing at that time, and then give it all the space to do what it needs to do.

Bill Gasiamis 26:59
And then reattach it and protect it again. It’s great, yeah, and the people doing that work, just think about the people doing that work this, the stuff you have to be made of to be able to actually perform that procedure.

Adam Moore 27:18
Yeah, that’s the worst headache, when my brain was swelling, it was just, I remember saying, I want an ice pack. I want an ice pack. I just could not get enough of them. I had family bringing in frozen peas to put on my head, could not get enough of them.

Bill Gasiamis 27:37
It’s crazy, and have those settled down now.

Adam Moore 27:41
Don’t get them till now. It was literally the first 24 hours. First 24 hours was just, it’s when your brain’s just in shock and swollen. It’s just too big for your skull, it was just awful. And they were they were close, they were close to sort of opening mine up to release the pressure. But luckily, it did start to go down after a while.

Bill Gasiamis 28:06
Right, how do you get about your day now? What do you get up to? How does your day sort of look?

Adam Moore 28:16
Well, I struggle with fatigue. Fatigue is my biggest deficit, huge. I can sleep fine, I sleep all night, but it’s getting out. It’s getting up in the mornings, I just cannot wake up, I have to peel myself out of bed. I’ll even have a cold shower, and I still can’t wake up. I don’t this is really a problem for me, fatigue. I used to bounce out of bed. I wouldn’t even drink alcohol when I went out before the stroke, because I’d hate to wait waste a day not being being hungover and not doing anything. But, you know, I just cannot get up now. It is so annoying.

Adam Moore 28:16
Is it that you’re not waking up, or you’re still tired? You need to sleep. What is it specifically, do you know?

Adam Moore 29:11
Yeah, I just can’t seem to wake up, yeah? I just, I could just stay in bed all day, tired, not as in being lazy, just tired.

Bill Gasiamis 29:21
I know fatigue. Yeah, completely different, neurologically tired, and then what do you think they consist of? Are you still doing regular visits to rehab? How do you get through this?

Adam Moore 29:37
Yeah, I go twice a week to my private rehab.

Bill Gasiamis 29:41
For an hour each time.

Adam Moore 29:43
Yes, which can be exhausting as well, but I push myself to do that. I was in a wheelchair Bill, so I’m out of that now. And you know, tonight, I’ve been bowl tending, bowling with my son. I mean, how cool is that?

Bill Gasiamis 30:01
That’s cool, okay.

Adam Moore 30:03
And Thursday, I was down the driving range hitting golf course.

Bill Gasiamis 30:08
So okay, that’s great, man.

Adam Moore 30:11
I love that I be able to do something like that, which reminds me that I can do stuff, you know, I still could do it makes me feel normal doing stuff like that.

Bill Gasiamis 30:21
But rest and recovery is a massive part of your day, which, I know now you’re conscious about it, where before it was just kicking back, perhaps sitting on the couch, having a snooze and then being fine the next morning. But whereas now it’s like a thing that you have to actually navigate.

Adam Moore 30:39
Yeah, it annoys me that I can’t get up and even go out and wash the car or do stuff like that. Yeah, I miss work. I miss doing practical I was very practical person, and I just can’t do it at the moment. And it really gets to me.

Bill Gasiamis 31:02
So, you’re, it’s productivity, like you, you want to be more productive.

Fighting Fatigue As A Carotid Artery Dissection Survivor

Adam Moore 31:07
Yeah, even doing stuff around the house, you know, DIY, clean, whatever, I just can’t do it at the moment. You know, lucky I’ve got my parents to do help me.

Bill Gasiamis 31:20
It will improve as your physical recovery improved, all this other recovery is also going to kick in and start helping and working with the fatigue.

Adam Moore 31:31
Improves, because that’s the biggest down up for me at the moment, is the fatigue.

Bill Gasiamis 31:35
The fatigue was a big thing for me for a good probably couple of years, and then afterwards, it was on and off, causing me a little bit of grief. Where, if I went and rode my bike on a Saturday morning, which I did then, that was only 20 kilometers, which, you know, might take, I don’t know, an hour and a half, two hours with a rest in between. And because it wasn’t like a full on ride, it was just a leisurely ride, yeah, but when I’d get back, the rest of my day would be gone.

Bill Gasiamis 32:15
Wiped out, completely wiped out, spending from the morning till probably the evening recovering from that to be ready by the end of the day to potentially go to dinner or catch up with some friends or see somebody. And that I started to notice that my time of recovery shortened, so the amount of time I needed to recuperate after that bike ride shortened and ensured and short, and then it’s at that point where, now, you know, from a 20 kilometer bike ride, which is nothing I could recover, I’d be sort of refreshed after about an hour and a half. But it took ages, it took years to get to that.

Adam Moore 32:59
The thing is, you don’t want it to stop you doing things, because you’ve got to recover after doing things. Yeah, you want to push yourself, but sometimes it bites you in the backside then.

Bill Gasiamis 33:09
Yeah, for a while. So, but then I planned my day differently, right? So I planned, well, I’m going for a bike ride today, which means I need to have nothing booked in for the rest of the day. And that was worth it, because I knew what I was I was wasn’t going to miss out on my bike ride, and I wasn’t going to have to be anywhere else and suffer through that. So it worked well. And then a few times, when we went to parties where we had, like, family events or friends birthdays or something, I knew I was going to be wrecked the next day.

Bill Gasiamis 33:38
So there’d be nothing on the next day. We’d be like, can you get to our birth? Can you get to the birthday? Saturday night, yeah, we’ll be there. We’ll probably leave a bit earlier than most other people, and that was great. But Sunday, there was just no plans, there was a write off. We’re doing nothing, and then if by some chance I felt up to it, on Sunday afternoon, I might be up and about and do some stuff. So we kind of planned the recovery as part of the event that we needed to do so that we never missed out on anything.

Adam Moore 34:10
Yeah. That’s what I try and do, almost, yeah.

Bill Gasiamis 34:14
It worked for us. Your work, did you have to let go of all your clients and tell them that you’re not available and they need to go elsewhere?

Adam Moore 34:26
It’s difficult. I’ve got a very good business partner. We had two businesses running, so he took one and I had the other, and we I’m very lucky. I’ve got an employee who’s very good, and he still works for me, so he’s ticking over the clients. At the moment, I’d love to get back to it, that’s my goal, to get back to it, whether it’s going out with him and helping him or just going out with him and seeing the clients and just, you know. I don’t know, making life bit easier for him to get more done or, you know, but I just don’t know. It’s, this is the thing.

Adam Moore 35:13
You don’t know how well you’re going to recover. No one will put their head on the block and go Adam in 10 years, you’ll be fine. No, they just won’t do it. So, if you can think as positively as possible, but I just don’t know, yeah.

Bill Gasiamis 35:29
If you put a couple of days aside, one day to do, to sit in this in the passenger seat with your employee, and just drive around, and then the next day to recover when the time’s right, that might be kind of a good way to just sort of give yourself the space to do the amount of recovery that you need to do, knowing that it might be really draining being at work for a day, even as just a accomplice.

Adam Moore 36:02
Yeah, it’s annoying, though, because without being big headed, I was bloody good at my job, and I’ve got my clients phoning me up saying “AV have you recovered? Are you coming back to work yet?” I wish I could, they’re like “Come on, get back on your tools.”

Bill Gasiamis 36:21
We had the same thing, I had look it took. We have painting companies, so it’s a little bit more physical. You know, there’s a lot more physical work for everybody that’s involved, sometimes on multiple story buildings and all sorts of different things. So I had to outsource all my work to other contractors, and then just keep the contact with my client and then manage the work. I didn’t do work for many, many years, and it took me to get back to business.

Bill Gasiamis 36:53
Took me until 2019, so seven years to properly get back to business, where I was on site every day, where I could manage being on site every day and being physical for a full day. So in that seven years leading up to that, I was intermittently in and out of that business, attending to different jobs, etc. But because of my lack of consistency in my being able to turn up and my ability to work, there was a lot of clients that kind of just fizzled off and and went elsewhere, which is completely makes sense.

Adam Moore 37:14
It’s well, it’s not you doing the job. Is you sat at your hands, but I built it up nothing, and it breaks my heart. That it could be at risk. I hope it’s not. But you work hard all your life, and then it’s almost like, I describe it to people, was like, you work your whole life, putting stuff together, getting your dream, this, dream that, and then it’s like someone chucking a grenade into it, just exploding overnight, overnight, just bang. It’s gone. That’s, how I describe it anyway.

Bill Gasiamis 38:10
Are you joining?

Adam Moore 38:12
No, because of the epilepsy, because of the seizures, I can’t I’ve got to go a year without one, which is say it seems to be under control now, but, yeah, I’d love driving. I used to drive every day.

Bill Gasiamis 38:27
And then a medical professional will give you the will sign you off? How will that work?

Adam Moore 38:37
Yeah, you have to have a year without a seizure, and then I think you apply to DVLA. I think you have to take a test, but my vision is going to be the biggest problem. I think whether my vision, my field vision, will be sufficient enough to get the license back.

Bill Gasiamis 38:56
Were you wearing glasses before the injury?

Adam Moore 39:00
Yeah, yeah.

Bill Gasiamis 39:03
For reading that those types of purposes? Was it short sightedness or It’s just from reading really. Did they adjust your script at all for the condition that you have you have now? Or does it not help?

Adam Moore 39:15
No, it’s more peripheral loss, really, than the prescription side of things. I mean, I’ve looked into, I’ve contacted a place up in London. There’s a place in Germany called Savior, or Sable. They do like they do treatment for regenerating the blood flow to your damaged nerves. So I’m looking into stuff to see if there is any way you can treat it, I don’t know.

Bill Gasiamis 39:43
Is that a hyperbaric oxygen therapy thing or something?

Adam Moore 39:45
No, it’s not to do with hyperbaric it’s sort of still blood, blood flow to the nerves, damage.

Bill Gasiamis 39:55
Yeah, there seems to be a lot of things that you can access if you cut the capable.

Adam Moore 40:00
That’s the other thing, I spoke to an optician, they said, there’s so much. They said, don’t be too damn hard, because there’s so much going on with stem cells with the eyes as well. In years to come, they could be able to do something with stem cells. So, that’s changing every year. It’s just developing and developing.

Bill Gasiamis 40:17
So, yeah, hyperbaric seems to be something that it’s doing good work or seeing good results at the moment for people, but it’s hard to access because it’s really expensive in the type of protocols that they’re saying need to be, that you need to do that seems to be really difficult to access.

Adam Moore 40:43
Is there a time? Is there a time window? Should it be done from like early, early days?

Bill Gasiamis 40:47
No, there isn’t. What seems to be the situation is, is that particular guys that I interviewed from Aviv clinics? They’ve got a clinic. They’re going in Tel Aviv, they’ve got one in Dubai, I think they’ve got one in Florida. Basically, what they do is they determine whether or not you have areas in your brain, which they call penumbras. They’re areas that are under duress, but still alive.

Bill Gasiamis 41:22
They’re perhaps not fully on board at the moment, and what they aim to do is rehabilitate those numbers of the brain, those supposed perhaps like sleepy or offline neurons, by increasing blood flow and oxygenation through hypoxic events.

Exploring Hyperbaric Oxygen: A High-Tech Hope for Stroke Recovery

Adam Moore 41:48
Am I right in thinking that that would be, they would look at you to see if they could help you before they treat you?

Bill Gasiamis 41:55
Correct, yeah, but they do the full assessment, and then once they’ve done the assessment, they’ll see on their MRIs or whether or not there’s areas worth rehabilitating. So you don’t do it blindly. You don’t just go there, hope for the best and see what. And hyperbaric oxygen theory therapy, for people like me who don’t understand the science behind it, it’s actually quite interesting situation. So what they do is they put you in the chamber, and they increase the oxygen level in the chamber so your body is getting a larger volume of oxygen, like than it would normally get.

Bill Gasiamis 42:35
I don’t know what the numbers are. And then what happens is they trick the brain into thinking that it’s going into a hypoxic state, a state where it doesn’t have enough oxygen, simply by changing the atmosphere in the chamber to normal external atmosphere. And then brain thinks that it’s losing the oxygen and then it causes a biological response that somehow stimulates a particular hormone or therapy or something.

Bill Gasiamis 43:10
It stimulates something in the brain that enables for blood flow and healing and new blood vessels to form around the penumbra and potentially, kind of reactivate it with more blood flow and more oxygen, etc.

Adam Moore 43:27
Okay, what sort of money we talking about?

Bill Gasiamis 43:31
They’re talking about 50 grand US for a two month, I think a two month protocol, which is five days a week where you’re doing you’re in a chamber, hyperbaric oxygen chamber that’s actually looks like a room, so you walk into it, you sit down, there might be a number of people in there, and then, because they’ve scanned your brain, and they know where the damage is, what they do is they try and get you to do exercises and particular tasks that will light up that part of the brain while you are in the chamber.

Bill Gasiamis 44:04
So they’re firing that part of the brain, they’re increasing the oxygen and then creating the hypo, the fake hypoxic event, and then, at the same time, what they’re hoping to do is that rewires and creates new neurons in that space, new blood vessels, increases the blood flow, the oxygenation, and it’s all happening while you’re basically just sitting in chair or standing up, or whatever they need you to do to activate that part of the brain.

Adam Moore 44:36
And is that something in this country, or is that broad look?

Bill Gasiamis 44:39
I’ve interviewed the guys that were in that part of the world. That’s not to say that they’re the only guys, but there’s two interviews that I’ve done on hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and they just they go through it in a lot of detail, in the interviews, especially in the first one, I’ll have those links in the show notes, and then I’ll send you the links to those videos. It’s really amazing, actually. While I’m on here and people are listening, I may as well just go and find it and tell people which episodes they are so they can definitely find it.

Bill Gasiamis 45:16
So it’s a really fascinating thing. And I’ve had some stroke survivors who I’ve interviewed, who have gone to their local beauty parlor and access the hyperbaric chamber the local beauty parlor and done an hour in the hyperbaric chamber. I wouldn’t recommend it in this particular scenario, because of the fact that you need to know, you need to be monitored.

Bill Gasiamis 45:50
Your medical condition is needs to be taken seriously, but, it’s starting to become more accessible. Is basically what I’m trying to say. Now, episode 334 was the most recent one with Dr. Shai Efrati. So 334 you’ll find that on YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, and all that kind of stuff. And then there was another one that I did earlier, which was episode 250 hyperbaric oxygen therapy with Dr. Amir Hadanny, both from the same organization, one from Tel Aviv, one from Florida, and then they go through in a fair amount of detail what the therapy achieves. So worth a listen.

Adam Moore 46:47
I might have listened to him already, but I will go back. I will go back definitely, yeah, because my eyesight is my biggest worry, if it can help that I would be really interested.

Bill Gasiamis 46:56
For sure, they’ll probably be able to it might give you some insights. And look, there might be a opportunity to find somebody more locally, or in a in a country closer or something. Yeah, you look like you’re starting to get tired now.

Adam Moore 47:16
It’s been long, every day is tiring.

Bill Gasiamis 47:20
What time is it there now?

Adam Moore 47:25
It’s 5mins to 11pm.

Bill Gasiamis 47:28
Are usually in bed by now?

Adam Moore 47:30
Yeah, yeah.

Bill Gasiamis 47:34
How far beyond your bedtime have you gone?

Adam Moore 47:40
I usually go to bed by about 8 o’clock, to be honest.

Bill Gasiamis 47:44
Yeah, well, I’m glad you stayed up, but at the same time, I would have been happy to make some changes to our schedule to make sure we got you in bed on time.

Adam Moore 47:54
No, I was definitely going to stay up for you, that’s for sure.

Bill Gasiamis 48:00
So it’s been 18 months, things are improving. You wish they were improving a little bit quicker? Things getting better?

Adam Moore 48:08
Yeah, it would never be quick enough.

Bill Gasiamis 48:09
I appreciate that. Sport, your teammates and that, have you gone and seen them play or hung out with them at all?

Adam Moore 48:19
I haven’t gone back, I don’t watch. I’ve always played, I hate watching. I will definitely skate again. I don’t think I’ll play hockey again, but I skating is one thing I loved, and I’ll be back on a pair of skates. Definitely, whether it be I skates or roller skates, even when I was in hospital, I felt like if, if someone put a pair of skates on me, I reckon I could skate. I know I can’t walk, but I could skate. I could skate better than I could walk when I was younger.

Bill Gasiamis 48:58
Yeah, something to look forward to your son, definitely. Was he 11 then? Or is he 11 now?

Adam Moore 49:05
He’s 11 now, he’s 10 when it happened.

Bill Gasiamis 49:09
Does he have any kind of idea of what’s going on? Or do you know if he’s have you guys chatted about it? Where’s he at with it?

Adam Moore 49:23
He’s amazing, really, he’s so resilient. Can be prouder really. There was a lot of books and stuff we got from the stroke people for him to read when it happened. Someone, I love side of stroke and stuff like that, some really good stuff. Yeah, something we will talk about later on. But, yeah, it’s been a big life changing thing for everyone. And the biggest thing, when I woke up and when I was in the rehab. I just I was more sad, not serious, sad about myself, but I just didn’t want him or my wife to miss out on their life because of me, to be honest.

Adam Moore 50:12
Because, you know, okay, I’m not going to be able to have much of a life at them at the moment, but I just didn’t want them to miss out on holidays and things and him growing up, and he won’t, I’ll make sure he won’t. But yeah, It just that was my biggest concern, to be honest.

Bill Gasiamis 50:30
And the relationship ended amicably by the sound of things.

Adam Moore 50:36
And I want to see as much as I can and my son, so we’ll keep it that way. You know, we went together, the three of us bowling tonight. So, yeah, okay, so if we can do stuff like that and I see him more, then yes, and it was great.

Bill Gasiamis 50:57
Yeah, that’s a blessing as well. Did you consider your mortality? Did you go to that place? Are you the type of guy that contemplates these types of things before the stroke, perhaps, and is it different now after the stroke?

Adam Moore 51:21
Never really thought about it before, but yeah, of course now, yeah. You always worry about having another one, but I’m definitely a more educated person in it now. I mean that that night, if I’d have thought about my vision changes, I would have driven straight to the hospital. But you know, the BE FAST. You know, everyone talks about the BE FAST, but the vision, most of the people that I speak to, the vision wasn’t one of the signs, but it is one of the signs.

Bill Gasiamis 52:03
Yeah. How big can you make the acronym? That’s the issue.

Adam Moore 52:07
It is, yeah. How big can you make it.

BEFAST: The Lifesaving Acronym Every Stroke Survivor Knows

Bill Gasiamis 52:09
An effective I know that the BE FAST tends, I hear that the BE FAST tends to cover about 80% of the people who have a stroke, and that’s kind of why they use it in Australia, we don’t use the Be, we just use the fast, F A S T, Face, Arms, Speech, Time, and the BE is used in lot of other countries overseas, but not in Australia.

Adam Moore 52:40
I don’t think the BE was used here a while back. I think it was something sort of new. It was just, yeah.

Bill Gasiamis 52:50
Perhaps that they are expanding the acronym. Maybe, they’re expanding it.

Adam Moore 52:58
The other thing I find quite hard is the fact that if someone has a stroke in a public place and they’ve got asphasia, how can they tell someone that have having a stroke if they can’t speak? You know, that must be awful. Yeah, you know, should there be some sort of sign language?

Bill Gasiamis 53:26
Well, the thing about aphasia is you may have a form of aphasia where you can’t express yourself either way. It wouldn’t matter, it’s about having awareness in the community like and that’s the hard thing, right? It’s like trying to make people aware what a stroke looks like or might look like. Okay, well, then a stroke, according to me, looks exactly like the way I look, it didn’t look at all. My stroke wasn’t FAST at all, there was no there was no balance issues, there was no eye issues, there was no face, arm, speech issues. There was nothing.

Bill Gasiamis 54:03
It was just tingling on my left side, and it didn’t stop me from doing anything. So I went to the chiropractor. Says, like, what does a stroke even look like? You can’t really determine that, but for the majority of the people, the BE FAST will cover a lot of those conditions balance. You know, there could be a million things as well. I was sick about a week ago for a couple of days, and I was dizzy. I was like, the world was spinning. Everything was spinning, and I thought I was having another stroke, which is ridiculous, because the condition that caused the mind is not there.

Bill Gasiamis 54:44
The blood vessel that was in my head that leaked, they removed, and it’s been completely resolved. But my instinct, it wasn’t my instinct, it was my anxiety said “You might be having another stroke mate.” Like, yeah, but what is this anyhow? It settled down, and it was good. In a couple of days, I was just having, like, a stomach bug or something, some impacting me.

Bill Gasiamis 55:10
So that’s the thing. Like, I’ve also spoken to a lot of stroke survivors who say they thought it was a headache, or they have migraines all the time, and they just put it down to a migraine, took something to calm the pain, and went to bed. And then there’s people who have had a stroke in bed while sleeping in the middle of the night. Yeah, it’s just the luck of the draw. It’s like, there’s no hope in trying to, like, capture all of the versions of it with heart attack.

Bill Gasiamis 55:45
There’s some signs that are pretty obvious, that are pretty universal, pain down your left side, pain in your back, you know, heaviness in the chest, all those types of things. There’s a couple of things that are very common across the board, that you can say that might be a heart attack. Let’s get into action. Let’s do something about it. But with stroke, it’s just the luck of the draw, man and hopefully, everyone who is going to have a stroke is able to receive, access help, really, really rapidly. That’s the only thing.

Adam Moore 56:26
That is one thing I have learned is get somewhere as quick as possible.

Bill Gasiamis 56:32
But your teammates might benefit from knowing about the BE FAST message, you know. So that could be something that you could teach them. And I know one of the sports where there’s a lot of stroke is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Adam Moore 56:47
Well, this is what I was saying about someone grabbing me around their neck. I don’t think I’d, you know, would need that now. That could be dangerous, because if it’s still weak, ask for you then yeah. And then have heard all about that. I’ve listened to the episode.

Bill Gasiamis 57:04
Guys getting choked out, getting choked out during training to practice, getting choked out. Yeah, it’s crazy. It’s insane. And yeah, so that’s the thing. Tell me, what do you reckon has been the hardest thing about stroke for you?

Adam Moore 57:24
Fatigue and Patience, the only thing I will say as well, Bill is, if anyone’s experiencing it, it’s I would give it a good year. I spent a lot of money on gadgets, physio. Trying to fix things that you have got to give it a good year patience before there’s no quick fix. You’ve got to allow time for, do you know what I’m saying.

Bill Gasiamis 58:01
Yeah, you need kind of to get through that acute phase.

Adam Moore 58:05
yes, yes, yes.

Bill Gasiamis 58:07
And let things settle and see where you’re at.

Adam Moore 58:10
I was so desperate to try and find something to get me well quicker, tried everything. I booked into other rehab, in inpatient rehab places paid lots of money. I should have just waited for six months to a year before.

Bill Gasiamis 58:28
Yeah, that’s okay, tou worked it out. So what has stroke taught you? I mean, I know patience is on the list that, like, is there been anything? Have you had an “Aha” moment? Has there been something that, like you’ve gone, okay, I get it now.

Adam Moore 58:58
No, don’t think so.

Bill Gasiamis 58:59
There’s nothing profound. That’s basically where I’m headed, like a profound lesson?

Adam Moore 59:06
No, I can’t think of any.

Bill Gasiamis 59:07
Yeah, that’s alright. What do you want to tell people who are listening? I imagine you joined the podcast to share a story. Hopefully it helps somebody motivate somebody, has somebody relate to you? They’re probably listening. What do you want to say?

Adam Moore 59:27
Just be patient. Have positive people around you that does help and seek peer support. Peer support people, for me, have been brilliant. I’ve had a lot of people that have gone through 10 years, 13 years, of stroke recovery, and they give you so much hope when you see them come out the other side of it. I know people that playing tennis, playing football. I know one lady that’s she had a stroke on a ski slope in Switzerland.

Adam Moore 1:00:08
She’s back skiing now. You know, she sends me clips of her on ski slopes, and it’s amazing, and that’s through her hard work getting back there. And it’s so nice to see people doing stuff like that, because you can do it. You can see people do it, yeah.

Bill Gasiamis 1:00:29
It’s definitely worth aiming for, you know.

Hope, Uncertainty & Resilience Of A Carotid Artery Dissection Survivor

Adam Moore 1:00:36
The hardest bit is not knowing whether you’re going to come out of it recovered. You know, I hope, I really do hope, my sake and my son’s sake that I do recover so that we can enjoy each other’s company and do things that we used to do. But as I say, there’s no written fact that you’re going to recover 100% again. Yes, you can put a lot of hard work into it, but no one will say, yes, you will. No, you won’t.

Adam Moore 1:01:08
That is really tough. And I don’t think I’ll accept the fact that I might not recover. I find that really hard. I’ll just keep on being positive and just.

Bill Gasiamis 1:01:25
Working towards it.

Adam Moore 1:01:26
Yes, yes.

Bill Gasiamis 1:01:29
Hey, fair enough. I really appreciate your time. Thank you for reaching out to be on the podcast and staying up way past your bedtime.

Adam Moore 1:01:39
I appreciate you giving me your time.

Bill Gasiamis 1:01:43
Yeah, you’re welcome, and I look forward to hearing from you down the track, you know, and see how things have progressed.

Adam Moore 1:01:49
Thank you, thank you.

Bill Gasiamis 1:01:52
That brings us to the end of this heartfelt episode with Adam from a split second neck injury that led to a Carotid Artery Dissection to vision loss, seizures and the slow climb through rehabilitation, Adam’s journey is a reminder of the raw truth and resilience found in stroke recovery. If this conversation resonated with you, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please, like comment and subscribe on YouTube or leave a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and remember, even just listening through the ads is a small way you can make a big difference in keeping this podcast going.

Bill Gasiamis 1:02:27
The fact that people are now discovering Recovery After Stroke in hospital, sometimes just days after their diagnosis, is the most powerful outcome I could have hoped for. That kind of early connection and support didn’t exist for me in 2012 but it does now, and it exists because of you, the listeners, the guests, and everyone who takes a moment to engage and share this movement only continues with your support.

Bill Gasiamis 1:02:53
So if you’d like to help me keep the podcast going and growing, please visit patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke, and become part of this mission to bring hope, connection and insight to stroke survivors around the world. Thanks again for tuning in, wherever you are on your recovery journey, just know you’re not alone, and your best days may still be ahead. I’ll catch you in the next episode.

Intro 1:03:17
Importantly, we present many podcasts designed to give you an insight and understanding into the experiences of other individuals, opinions and treatment protocols discussed during any podcast are the individual’s own experience, and we do not necessarily share the same opinion, nor do we recommend any treatment protocol discussed all content on this website and any linked blog podcast or video material controlled this website or content is created and produced for informational purposes only, and is largely based on the personal experience of Bill Gasiamis.

Intro 1:03:47
The content is intended to complement your medical treatment and support healing. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health advice. The information is general and may not be suitable for your personal injuries, circumstances or health objectives. Do not use our content as a standalone resource to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease for therapeutic purposes or as a substitute for the advice of a health professional.

Intro 1:04:11
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Intro 1:04:38
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301 episodes

#Podcasting Education #Recovery After Stroke