Good site. Keep it up.

Thanks whoever you are. I've only just done it about 1 1/2 hours ago.

Hi Tim ,

Naomi told me about your site and I'm very impressed by your work !

I say "work" because I know how difficult you must find it. I am Brain Injured which happened in 1993 and I still find that the effects are "difficult" to say the least. My speech and thinking is now still slow. As is my gait due to aphasia down my left side. Otherwise I'm alright and wish you all the best.

Thanks

Peter

Cheers Peter.

Never, ever give up. People can improve regardless of what the "professionals" say. I believe it is just down to your own will and state of mind.

Thanks for all the inspiration Tim. I can see you try hard and work hard. Please keep it up.

Thank you Vince.

Just realised, I had better use my real name instead of my internet name (sakima) from now on.

I must admit that what you are doing here is very inspirational. I take my hat off to you. I too had a stroke, although I can walk just fine, it really just affected my left arm and my memory a bit. Could you put more pictures up of you and your family. By the way, I am 58. Had the stroke just over 2 years ago.

Hi Tim,

What an inspiration you are to others who find themselves having had a stroke. Your diaries, wonderfully written, clearly portray ,your life after your stroke, and the inner strength you have brought to the fore in order to leave a fulfilling, happy life.

My first stroke...a minor one happened six weeks ago and I am awaiting results of scans done yesterday to learn more about what went on. At this stage I am told I have had a LCVA which has left me with a sorer right eye ( hurt through a prior injury), tingling in my thumb, forefinger & a little weaknss down my right side with a tendancy to wobble to the right.

My maternal side of the family has a history of strokes, my mother died at the age of 68yrs after a series of strokes after my caring for her for 2 years.

I was amazed to hear you have done your work on one finger...good for you....painstaking no doubt, but you have proved it can be done. My great interest these days is family history research which I spend too much of my time doing....should be getting more exercise. I had thought of gettting a left handed mouse to practice with...just in case....because I can't imagine my life without genealogy in it.

Loved the pictures of yourself and your snazzy apartment.....it appears to have a great layout & very cheerful as well...a fantastic boost to ones morale.

Thankyou for sharing your wonderful site.....it is indeed a splendid idea of yours and will be of great encouragement to many encluding myself.

Warmest regards,

Dianne

Canterbury

New Zealand.

Hi Tim,

It's great to find a website that actual describes a little about what to expect and the pictures, provide the reality and also hope.

My mum has just had a stroke (soon to be 55yrs old), same as you to the brain stem and things are not looking very good at the moment and I was searching for some comfort and knowledge or insight as she is stuck in Melbourne, AU (as my parents were on their holiday).

Everyday is hard and very very emotional as we don't know what to expect but at the moment we are hoping that she is able to be flown back to NZ.

Thank you and all the best to you! Inspiring definitely!

Kind Regards

Mia

Auckland, NZ

Hi Tim

I have just received your email and honestly I was so suprised to hearr the news, not good is it. From your previous emails I always took inspiration from you ,as you came across as so upbeat,. I was always happy to read of your relationship with your sons which have not suffered as a result of your stroke. Its been 10 years since Ihad mine and for 4 years my daughter did not speak to me at all, she was so embarassed to be seen outside of the house with me and my stick. the turning point came one night when she was ill and I accompanied her and her father (divorced) to the hospital as as I went without my stick I had trouble keeping up with them and she gave me her arm to walk, after that she was always available to help with my stick and carry it along for me. I had been single years prior to my stroke and after gave up all thoughts of having anything ike a normal relationship as people (men) just stare or dont look so I dont even think about it anymore

I returned to work, I guess not possible for you, (wish you could do my hair ) as I had a bleed on the brain had to cut my hair short in order to manage it easily and now I dont like it as its too plain (I guess this is why no one is interested in me, I am also 5ft 11 so two steps away from a tranny with my short hair, (I cant write but as its office work I use the computer to do everything). anyway people dont know what they have missed until its gone so perhaps Claudia will wake up one day, see you in her sons and realise she has made a mistake but I hope you are able to acquire some interests and stop concentrating on this failled relationship. Many people have gone through this and come out the other side, you just have to be strong, I am sure you were a strong able guy before this stroke , it doesnt matter what you look like as long as you are a nice person inside, you will attract someone, Quite a few people I meet are in relationships and they are disabled, the lucky ones, but for you concentrate on other things. It is not all about close intimate relationships but keep your sons close, they appear to love you very much and you might need them in the next few years.

Can I tell you that I learned to walk through this group called Arni. Check the website Arni.uk.com and it now has trainers all over the UK so you might be lucky to get a trainer near your home or go to Surrey to meet the founder who had a stroke in 1997 and is now as good as new. He might be able to offer you two intense days of training, check out the stroke survivors stories on the website. try this out, walking again will make your confidence improve and eliminate all these doubts of if you are good enough for any woman.You are still a good looking guy so try to get this training and work it, the director teaches weight training so you will be improving all round.

Margot

Hi Tim,

Keep it up! I know a little of what you are going through, having had my stroke for just over two years at the age of 44, and you are an inspiration to us all.

Cheers,

MTR

Hi Tim,

Sorry I have not been in touch for a while. Still trying to make a success of my business (Home Information Packs) and working in London often. After five years hard work the Conservattives say they will scrap them, Hips. Not sure what I will do then.

You really should not feel inadequate in anyway. You are better stronger man than most who are able bodied. I for one, admire you greatly. Stay strong for the boys who need a dad who you will be able to help and advise in many ways as they get older. I still ask my dad for advice and I am 51!

What about this years Formula One season? Far from certain that Button will become champion, what do you think? Would Schummy have cut the mustard if he had raced again?

Regards, Rob

Thanks Martin.

Margot

Claudia will always be by my side. Its just that she is not "In love" with me anymore. Which I totally understand and accept. I am devastated, but I understand.

I have one son with her, who loves me so much. The other son is from a previous relationship.

I have very little movement in my legs, so I very much doubt that walking again is an option for me.

Hi Tim,

Keep up with the site and all that you are achieving. I feel lucky to be reasonably able-bodied in comparison to many other Stroke survivors. Nonetheless, I do have my moments.

I intend reading this site thoroughly over the next few days.

In the meantime, take care and be strong.

Tom

Dear Tim!

I am so sad to hear about what had happened in your life lately. All I can say: you are an amazing man that in many ways are very strong and determined. You are a wonderful father to your sons and they need you! AND they accept you as you are! And Tim you give a lot of joy in many people´s life. There is still a meaning to your life - know that!

Weronica

Tim,

I have just read your response and I really cannot accept what you have said, you can walk again. I had a major bleed nine years ago. At the time I used to watch people walk and say I will never do that again. I never used my wheel chair indoors, used to get around by hanging on to anything and one day read about Arni on the Diffferent strokes message board, I thought I will do that by this time I hadforced myself to return to work I spent hours being so tired but I perservered thinking if I show one sign of weakness they will ask me to resign, I still feel mejorly tired but I cope . On my first day back to work walked a mile wih my stick to the chemist, needs must. I was gone for so long that a search party was sent out to look for me. I had never walkedoutside before but necessity is a strange bedfellow. On my frist day at I Arni three years after my stroke . I had taken the train, from the East End of London to Surrey, all by myself and it was one the old fashioned trains with a big step down with a massive gap between the train and the platform. It toook two men and an hour for me to get off the train at Surrey, I have never lived it down as one of the men was my future instructor at Arni, he was determined for me to get it right and believe me I spent the next year once a week, walking around a room , its just a matter of confidence. I didnt think I could do it but I did to where I eventually gave up the walking stick. So dont ever again say I cant, I will not be able to, I have seen people years older than you attend Arni and succeed. One man was in his 70's on a zimmer frame. They also teach you how to get up , if you fall , without using any aids to hold on to.

What youcant do now you will be able to once you have built up the strenfth in your legs and this is easy to do, its just tiring but you are young you can do it. I am around the same age as you and coming from a stage where my head was cut open, to epileptic fits I did it easily. Look on the web site for a trainer near you, I am sure there is one.

Do it for your sake but also to show Claudia that you are still the man you once were your disability has nothing to do with the person you have always been its just that your ability to do things are not as good as they once were but this comes to us all whether its through stroke or old age. Have you ever considered that the person you admire for walking is perhaps affected by some hidden disability. .

Margot

MARGOT

I dont want to be seen as a defeatist, but I have very, very little movement in my legs, my right leg hardly moves at all. No pain in them, but the muscles dont really work. They can, only just, support my own body weight, for about 5 minutes. I have no balance at all. I am working on my sitting balance, but it is virtually non-existant.

I am very, very grateful for your reccomendation, but as I have virtually no movement now, in my legs and I have no balance I dont think that treatment is for me. I will look at the website, but I think my damage is located deep in the brain and therefore cannot be rectified.

MARGOT

I dont think ARNI is working any more!

Hi Tim,

Just had a look at your website. Impressed! Are you on Twitter of Facebook at all? Thanks! Working on a website for our organisation and would like to link/follow you. Keep well mate! Martine Rolls, Regional Fundraiser, Stroke Foundation Midland Region, New Zealand.

Yes, you can find me on facebook, but not that often. I come here at least once a month.

Hi Tim, i have just spent the last hour going through your website and think its marvelous. What an insight into your life. Havent heard a single song on X Factor tonight even though its on, so engrossed in your story. I cant even begin to imagine how it is for you, i just know if i was in your situation i would not be as determined as you. I would just give up. Keep up with the website, i will be looking for your updates!

Katrina.