At Faircape Health’s Tokai Rehabilitation Centre, we recently had the privilege of supporting Cleo Crowe on her remarkable journey to recovery. After suffering a stroke, Cleo was admitted to our center for neurorehabilitation, facing a significant challenge: she had lost the ability to swallow. We are deeply grateful that Cleo has shared her story with us, allowing us to celebrate her progress, raise awareness about stroke recovery, and inspire other stroke survivors and their families.
One afternoon, I sat with Cleo in her room by the window. She set her knitting aside, ready to share her story.
“It happened at home, in the evening,” Cleo began. “I was happy and I told my boy, ‘I am going to bed now.’ But when I got into bed, I felt this pain in my head, like lightning, like white flashes.” She paused, “I had some soup, and then I couldn’t swallow. That’s when I told my son to take me to the hospital. That’s when I knew something was wrong with me, and my instinct kicked in.”
Many people do not realize that speech-language pathologists also specialize in swallowing difficulties, known as dysphagia. Swallowing is a complex process involving numerous muscles and nerves. Cleo’s type of stroke had impaired her ability to swallow food and liquid safely. I recall my first assessment of Cleo’s swallowing—she was unable to swallow even a teaspoon of water and struggled to swallow her own saliva. This had serious implications for her ability to eat, drink, and take essential medications for managing her diabetes and blood pressure.
“I remember they tried to give me a pill,” Cleo recalled, “and they said, ‘Just try.’ I choked and coughed the tablet out.”
Due to the severity of her dysphagia, Cleo required a feeding tube to receive nutrition and hydration while she participated in daily, intensive swallowing exercises. Gradually, she began to tolerate small amounts of soft, pureed foods. After six weeks of hard work, Cleo progressed to eating soft food and normal liquids. Her dedication to her swallowing exercises slowly rehabilitated her ability to swallow again. “In my exercises, I had to focus on getting it down the food pipe, not letting it go down the other pipe,” she explained.
Cleo’s experience sheds light on a critical, yet often overlooked, aspect of stroke recovery. “That was the first time I heard of people having strokes that affected their throat,” Cleo said. “I know people who are lame on one side, and I know of people who have died of a stroke, but nobody ever spoke to me about your throat being affected by a stroke.” This lack of awareness about dysphagia is a gap that needs to be addressed, as it is a common issue following a stroke as we know Dysphagia affects more than 50% of stroke survivors.
Cleo shared some of her initial thoughts when she began her recovery journey. “I was thinking, how will I recover? I like eating. How am I going to get this food down into my body? Am I ever going to eat properly again? I love cooking! I cook for my friends. How am I going to manage when I can’t even drink water? I can’t go to restaurants. How am I going to deal with that?”
Food is so much more than sustenance; it is woven into our celebrations, our expressions of love, and our cultural practices. The social nature of eating can make having a feeding tube particularly difficult. “It is a big psychological factor,” Cleo confided. “I remember when I first had food and I could swallow, I was a bit emotional and I called my son, the tears just came!” Now, she says, she tastes everything, eats slowly, and finds that food tastes better. “When I eat, I savour every grain of rice.”
When I asked Cleo what helped her with her swallowing and recovery, she had simple yet profound advice. “If I had to meet someone today who had a stroke, I would tell them that recovery is slow, but there will be progress. You can’t do it on your own.” Cleo emphasized the importance of having a support system—friends, family, and healthcare professionals who can provide encouragement and assistance every step of the way. She expressed heartfelt gratitude to the dedicated Multidisciplinary team at Faircape Health, including one of her speech therapist’s Insaaf Baderoen, dietician Toni Smyth, occupational therapist Julia Osler, physiotherapist Kaltoema Albertyn-Harris, and her doctor, Dr. Aneeka Domingo.
Looking at Cleo now, enjoying a cupcake together on the 13th of August, I am filled with admiration. Her journey is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. There is no greater gift to a speech therapist than witnessing such a triumph over adversity.
Written by Alice Bednall (Faircape Health Tokai: Speech Language Pathologist)
