As I lay in my hospital bed, tired distraught and frightened there was no time it seemed for even a fitful sleep. Almost the whole night I was looking at my useless left arm and useless left leg wondering if I was ever going to work or even walk again. Everything I took for granted had now been thrown into doubt. I had tried to read but the task was very difficult and I soon dissolved into tears as the thought of a life without even reading beckoned. Sleep seemed elusive as I mulled over the thought that I would have to mentally say goodbye to almost everything I had known.  However I must have got some shut eye as I was wakened by the nurses bringing breakfast at 7.00 am. Barely had I had time to digest  that, when the Physiotherapists arrived. Now for anyone suffering from a stroke, especially one as severe as mine, physical therapy is essential as soon as possible. There first task was to assess the damage and tell me what I needed to do, which amounted to ‘keep trying to move everything’. That was then followed by me being hoisted out of bed and plonked into a special chair to make sure I could sit up. My Physio was friendly and firm. In addition to that she was honest and told me that the more I do in the early days the more movement and control will return. It’s hard explaining to people who’ve never experienced it how it feels to learn how to sit in a chair again. However after a stroke almost eevrything has to be relearnt and neural pathways have to be rebuilt. So even sitting in a chair required a huge effort. After managing that and a confidence boosting motivational talk I was then left to my own devices.  There was a TV screen in the hospital and for a charge you could watch it. I had been gifted a free card and at around 2.00pm, turned it on. The channels were pretty dull but it did have channel 4. The film on that afternoon was ‘Reach For The Sky’  I know it’s cheesy but the moment that Douglas Bader throws away his walking sticks and says’ I will walk on my own’ was a life changer for me. At that moment I decided that I was going to walk out of this hospital as soon as I could and get on with the rest of my life.