AVASHNA Moodley went to bed a successful businesswoman, one who led a healthy lifestyle.

However, she woke up unable to move or speak. She could hear herself speaking clearly to family and friends, but the sounds coming out of her mouth did not match the words formed in her mind.

Moodley had suffered a stroke in her sleep that night, December 24, 2011.

She said she woke up in the morning and quickly realised that she could not move. “I had no time to get my affairs in order, to prepare my husband and children for a person who could no longer walk, talk, read or write. All I could do was cry as I had lost my speech,” said Moodley.

From being an active, hands-on businesswoman, she had become someone who could not do anything for herself. “Doctors told me I had had a stroke, and it was one of the serious kind. I owned a paramedical skincare business in City View Centre. I interacted directly with the employees on a daily basis to ensure the business ran smoothly. With the loss of speech, I had to sell the business.”

She spent 19 days in a hospital’s intensive care unit, recovering her ability to move, sit and speak.

Moodley, who has made a nearly complete recovery, has started a programme to help other stroke survivors -, Coming Home:Hospital2Home. “The reality of my situation hit me the first night back at home and over the next few days I wanted to go back to my new safe place: the hospital! I needed people to treat me as though I would recover completely. To love me not for the person I once was, but for me, as I was then. I needed to still have value and feel valued. I needed visitors to believe in me and bring their positive energy with them. I needed my family and caregivers to allow me to grow and learn at my own pace, with patience, and to own my own power. That’s what my initiative is about,” said Moodley.

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