Last year famous musician and conductor Tommy Tycho suffered a stroke.

Following a fall at home, Tommy was admitted to hospital where a scan revealed he had suffered a massive aneurysm.

He was then taken to the operating theatre where the doctor inserted a drain into his head and saved his life.

Before his stroke, Tommy was highly successful in his career. His credits include thousands of orchestrations, composing and arranging over 1,500 pieces of music for movies and television, including the Medal Ceremony music for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, to name only a few.

Suffering from a stroke has temporarily put an end to his highly successful career.

Throughout his recovery he has had many breakthroughs, including the recovery of speech from a whisper to normal volume, being able to eat solid food and drink proper liquid, being able to sit up in my wheelchair, but most important of all he has started to write music again and play the piano.

After three months of rehab he was moved to a nursing home as he has paralysis on his left side and needs 24 hour care.

This is perhaps the biggest effect of the stroke on Tommy’s life as he is now living without his wife Eve, after 59 years of a wonderful marriage.

Tommy credits the exceptional work of staff at his nursing home, support of his therapists and his determination to his successful road to recovery.

He aims to one day become totally mobile and stand once again on the podium in front of his orchestra and conduct a two hour concert.

Tommy’s story is a powerful demonstration of what is possible in recovery after a stroke.

The National Stroke Foundation works tirelessly to ensure all people affected by stroke have the best outcomes possible.

This festive season we thank you for your support for this important work during a very difficult year and any donation you can make to the NSF Christmas Appeal is greatly appreciated.

You are an important person helping us achieve our life saving goals.

To make a contribution, please visit the donate page on our website.

Last week was certainly a busy one here at the National Stroke Foundation. We had two big launches happening in Sydney - the launch of the Audit Report (on acute stroke services) and of Stroke of Art (the exhibition that we’ve been going on about for a while that has finally hit NSW Parliament House, don’t forget to check it out if you are in Sydney).

There were dignitaries galore, with the NSW Health Minister John DellaBosca speaking at the Parliament opening of Stroke of Art, and Sandra Sully lending a helping hand. If you want to check out the pics from either event, see the website photograph section, or you can click on this link to become a fan of the NSF on facebook and see all the latest pics and news.

Our CEO says she felt like she had never spoken to so many media all in the one day!! Take a look at a sample of the coverage that we received  across the nation about the Audit report.

 ABC ,  The West Australian, Sky News, Sydney Morning Herald

What are your thoughts? Something needs to be done, that’s for sure.

Thank you to everyone who sent in their postcards with messages of Faith, Hope and Courage - we are excited to say we have reached our target of 500 postcards, and have received some brilliant and inspiring messages from so many people touched by stroke. We also have had some lovely messages sent in by a few more well known people including Sandra Sully and John Newcombe. We only have space for a few more, so if you have created a postcard but haven’t sent it in yet, please make sure to send it in by the 29^th July and your card could appear next to these.

If you are in the area, make sure you get down to the NSW Parliament House to view the exhibition between 3-28 August, entry is free.

The exhibition will be officially launched  by the Minister for Health the Hon. John Della Bosca at a morning tea on Wednesday 5 August at 10.30am at the Jubilee Room, Parliament House NSW, Macquarie Street, Sydney.

We will be celebrating the start of the exhibition with a cocktail party and fundraiser on the evening of Monday 3 August. If you are interested in attending the morning tea or cocktail party launch events please email Jasmine at jlesniak@strokefoundation.com.au

Judi Halliday's painting for Stroke of Art 2009

The Stroke of Art exhibition will be opening at NSW Parliament House in just over four weeks.

This is your last chance to be a part of the celebration of Faith, Hope, Courage.  

Our target is to display over 500 postcards from around the country and we are almost half way to reaching our target - but we NEED your help to meet our goal.

If you haven’t yet returned your postcard back to us - this is a reminder to mail it back this week - so you don’t miss out on being included in the exhibition. We must have ALL postcards returned by Mon 13 July.

If you haven’t already received your Stroke of Art postcard and would like to order some of the last ones, send an email to admin@strokefoundation.com.au with your name, address details and number of postcards and we’ll mail out to you pronto!

Thanks to the thousands of people who have ordered the postcards. Please help us fill the NSW Parliament House with messages about stroke!

We are inspired everday by stories of faith, hope and courage from stroke survivors. This year we are encouraging everyone who has been touched by stroke to share their message with us for Stroke of Art 2009.

In previous years, we’ve invited stroke survivors to share their artistic talent for Stroke of Art, now we’re asking for words of inspiration.

The messages, along with artworks by three stroke survivors on theme of faith, hope and courage will be exhibited at NSW Parliament House from 3-28 August.

Judi Halliday, National Stroke Foundation Ambassador and one of the artists explains the inspiration behind her artwork, Hope.

“The journey since my stroke 14 years ago has been incredibly hard, it took a long time but at last, I’m back.  Through my stroke, I had lost the most important people in my life – my two little children – now, 14 years on, they are re-united and living with me. I have a second chance of happiness. In the painting, my son and daughter’s faces are held in my hands. My earlier painting is also shown to reflect my mood of pain, loss and hopelessness. That is in the past, yet I have captured it in the painting to acknowledge how hope has guided me from there to here.  In my heart, I have so much happiness. This painting is about hope. I want to live my life to the fullest.”

To share your message click here