Retired nurse shares personal experience with stroke in new book

A retired Cape Breton nurse has written a book that she hopes will help people navigate the health-care system in a time of crisis.

Retired registered nurse Heather Donovan was inspired by her own experience to write the book. Sixteen years ago, a stroke threatened her husband Gerald’s life.

“When I came out he was slumped in the truck and his arm was drooping and he couldn't speak. I thought oh my god he's taken a stroke,” says Heather.

She rushed her husband to the hospital. He got quick treatment, but the stroke left its mark.

“I expected him to be 100% back to normal and that did not happen.”

Gerald needed to see speech therapists and occupational therapists and had to re-learn how to read.

“He had aphasia, which is to do with the speech. He could understand you, but he couldn't get out the words to talk to you,” says Heather.

“It was hard, really hard, but anyway, I'm still alive,” says Gerald.

As a nurse, Heather thought she knew her way around the healthcare system, but even she found it difficult when trying to get her husband the help he needed.

“The health system we have today is very good. The thing is, I didn't know who to get ahold of, what to do. I surely learned over the whole year.”

She decided to write it all down. It took several years, but the final product has been published - a book called Stroke: The Life-Changing Quake.

“The main purpose of the book is to help people who are in a similar situation,” says Heather.

Heather says she hopes copies of the book end up in hospital waiting rooms, doctor’s offices, and the offices of occupational therapists. That way, they'll be most likely to fall into the hands of family members of someone who's recently suffered a stroke.

“They don't know exactly who to call, or what is available and since I went through all of that, I think it will help them,” says Heather.

Today, Gerald gets around pretty well. He can read again and even though the 66-year-old has never regained use of his right hand, he says he's doing all right.

“I've only got one hand, but I use the husqvarna, me and a buddy of mine, we cut 450 cords, so as long as I'm working,” says Gerald.

Heather says writing the book has been her form of therapy.

“I was able to, I suppose, get rid of some feelings,” says Heather. “Things I didn't even know were bottled up, memories I didn't even know I had came out in the book.”

The book launch for Stroke: The Life-Changing Quake is Thursday at the Sydney Library.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Sarah Ritchie