Mum's devastating health crisis left her unable to say her own children’s names

A mum of three woke up unable to say her name or string a sentence together after having a sudden stroke on a hospital floor, in a “life-changing” event that left her “feeling worthless” and forced her to sell her successful business and house.

Kelly Fogarty, now 54, from Birmingham, was told by one therapist she would never talk again after having a stroke in November 2017, and it has taken years of speech and language therapy for her to be able to learn how to be able to name objects and form complete sentences.

The stroke had put Kelly in a two-day “fog”, which she awoke from speaking “gobbledygook”, and for days she was unaware of her condition, wondering why people looked confused when she spoke. Already unable to say her children’s names, six weeks after the first stroke Kelly had another.

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The second stroke degraded her communication still further and soon she had her privacy stripped from her, as she could not do basic tasks that involved writing or talking, culminating in a mental breakdown and severe depression – as she grieved the life she once lived. Kelly had been diagnosed with aphasia, which according to Say Aphasia, is a communication disability which makes it difficult to read, write or speak and occurs when the communication centres of the brain are damaged – usually caused by a stroke, brain haemorrhage, head injury or a brain tumour.

Kelly was forced to sell her business, where she was an NVQ assessor in care homes and children’s homes, as she could no longer communicate with her clients, but says her new role has made life “worthwhile” again. Now, Kelly’s speech has come on leaps and