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Matt Body, with fiance Charmaine Holmes and labrador Gus in the background, is recovering after a major stroke. PHOTO SUSAN SANDYS 060120-SS-0119
Still giving his all P4
Matt faces a long stroke recovery By NZME
Champions found P16
Ashburton father-to-be Matt Body never knew he had a hole in his heart until he suffered a catastrophic stroke that left him blind for a week. The 26-year-old builder, who prior to having the stroke was “extremely healthy”, is sharing his terrifying ordeal to encourage New Zealanders to get their hearts checked. “I just instantly lost my vision, completely, and got an instant migraine, the worst I’ve ever had in my life. He said the stroke, which happened on December 12, was on both sides of his brain. “The doctor told me that I was lucky to be alive.” Body is now waiting for an internal
ultrasound which will tell doctors how big the hole in his heart is. A device will then be inserted, which will act like an umbrella and plug the hole, preventing another stroke or further heart problems. Other than broken bones from a lifetime of rugby, Body said he’s always been active and healthy. “I’m always either at the gym, or fishing or riding motorbikes, stuff like that.” Body was on the mend after a workplace accident left him needing a disc in his spine surgically replaced in September. Two weeks before Christmas, he took codeine to relieve his back pain and found himself struggling with the constipating effects of the medication. “I pushed as hard as I could, and the
next minute I’d blacked out, lost my vision and had the worst migraine of my life.” His fiancé Charmaine Holmes called an ambulance, who rushed him to nearby Ashburton Hospital where he received treatment and spent the night. The next day, he was transferred to Christchurch Hospital’s Neurology Ward, where he had an MRI and was told he’d had a major stroke. Doctors later discovered a hole in his heart, through which a blood clot had passed, before it travelled up to his brain, resulting in a severe bleed.
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