Liam Kelleher from Inniscarra was left unable to talk and was partially paralysed after the stroke in November 2017 and spent 9 months being treated at Cork University Hospital and the National Rehabilitation Centre in Dublin.
Cork Stroke Support Centre was set up in 2010 and are officially opening their first facility in Blackrock tomorrow morning to coincide with World Stroke Day.
The centre has been paid for through local fundraising and donations and will offer support to stroke survivors as they transition from hospital to home.
Speaking to RedFM News, Liam Kelleher says being able to meet other stroke survivors has helped him hugely:
"I was afraid. I was scared. I didn't understand what was going on. And at this stage now, I've come so far from where I was- the starting was zero to where I am now. To find somewhere where you can relate to people that have been in the same boat as yourself, it's unbelievable. It's a kind of, I suppose, a pressure relief or whatever, that no one can really understand what this condition is, or how you go about it, bar someone that's had it."
Anita Ryan from Cork Stroke Support Group speaking about the huge amount of local support they received ahead of the opening of their new centre in Blackrock tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/fM0kd2o7GP
— RedFM News (@RedFMNews) October 28, 2021