Kathryn Dane: 'They knew straight away I'd had a stroke'

Life isn't quite back to normal for Kathryn Dane, but it’s as normal as it can be.

Just under nine months on from suffering a brain hemorrhage while training with Ireland, the Ulster and Old Belvedere scrum-half is still some way off making a full return to rugby, although her progress has been significant.

The Fermanagh native is back full-time at the IRFU high performance centre in Dublin doing gym work, which is being constantly monitored, while she hopes to get back running in the next four or five weeks.

News of Dane’s brain hemorrhage emerged in February when she shared details of her recovery on Instagram, having become unwell while doing a gym session with the Irish squad’s S&C coach Ed Slattery.

"It was just a normal day of training, I was rehabbing an ACL injury I had," the 14-cap scrum-half says, as she reflects on the day she fell ill.

"I just got this massive pain behind my right eye in the back of my head. I didn't feel great, but up until that point I was 100%, I was feeling fine.

"Ed [Slattery] noticed straight away that my face had dropped. I didn't notice it had dropped, but I didn't feel great and he quickly got the team doc - who was actually in the gym at the time - to have a look at me, and they knew straight away I'd had a stroke of some description.

"I went to the medical room, lots of reassurance, they got me an ambulance and I think I was in Connolly hospital within around 15 minutes, which was really lucky."

The exact cause of the hemorrhage, Dane says, is known as arteriovenous malformation (AVM), something the 26-year-old was born with but didn’t realise she had.

As a chartered physiotherapist, the 26-year-old's medical knowledge was both a help and a hindrance, she says. Having recognised the