Judith had a stroke when she was just 39 and spent years learning how to talk again.

Judi was head of the creative art department at a school in Tamworth. She was a busy person who taught at TAFE College and at home where she held coaching classes for adults and students. Judi was slim, attractive, passionate about her work and her life and at the same time a busy mother of two delightful children, 10 year old Alexander and 4 year old Portia.

It hadn't been one of the best weeks in the life of the Halliday family when Judi had her stroke. Judi had lost two very close family friends though illness in the space of a week. She had a lot on her mind.

Judi was feeling tired, she had been suffering the effects of a headache which seemed to have been hanging around for weeks. As Judi describes it, "There was suddenly a huge bang in my head. I knew it was inside me, and that it wasn't something outside. There was no pain, just a feeling of loss of sensations."

Her sister was talking to her, but the words weren't making sense. She looked at a street sign and it didn't mean anything. "I must stop the car," Judi thought, but she didn't know how.  

Judi came to a set of traffic lights. She knew that they meant something - but what? There were three different colours, but what did each one mean - she kept driving.

Judi had suffered a stroke to the left side of her brain. She was 39 years old.

That was seven years ago and Judi's story is just one of the episodes that effect over 48,000 Australians every year. After cancer and heart disease, stroke is Australia's third biggest cause of death through illness and although many people regard stroke as an older person's disease, the truth is that stroke can affect any age group, any time.

Judi's memories of the first few weeks after her stroke are vague and disjointed.

After 4 days in Tamworth Base Hospital, she was transferred to St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney by air ambulance and she was not expected to survive. She did thankfully and after two weeks in Sydney she was transferred back to Tamworth where she spent the next three months in rehabilitation. Judi describes it as like being in God's waiting room.

She remembers people coming to see her - but at the time wondered who they all were. "I remember this one beautiful little girl who kept coming to my bedside, and I know there was something I should have known about her, but it wasn't until many months later that I realised that the little girl was my daughter, Portia."
Because Judi's stroke was on the left side of her brain, it was the right side of her body which was affected - and this is also the side of the brain which affects the speech, so Judi had to learn to read, write and speak again - a condition which is known as Aphasia.

"I tell people that it is like having English as a second language, when you have no first language."

When she speaks today, Judi's diction is clear and articulate, and few people would know that she has suffered a stroke. "Many people think I have a foreign accent and are surprised when I tell them I'm from Tamworth," she says.

In the beginning, Judi went through long periods of depression during the many months of her recovery. Judi's marriage broke down and she moved to Sydney. But as she grew stronger her determination also began to surface and she decided that she needed to put something back into her life which would contribute to stroke research and awareness and which would enable her to use her skills and knowledge of the art world.

"When I first came to Sydney, I didn't know anybody and like many stroke survivors, I spent a lot of time wanting to hide at home behind my curtains for the rest of my life, but eventually I forced myself to get out and become part of the city."

One of Judi's more exhilarating moments came the day she found she was able to run again.

"I had been walking - admittedly a bit pigeon-toed - for a few years since my stroke, but whenever I tried to break into a run, my legs would give way and I would be in danger of falling. One day, about a year ago, I was walking through the car park at Darling Harbour and I forced myself to run. It was one of the most unbelievably triumphant feelings and I laughed and cried out loud at the same time. People must have thought I was drunk!"