At just 28-years-old, "entirely fit and healthy" Chris Johnson from Stockport had a sudden stroke as he prepared for work - leaving him with impaired vision, loss of feeling and an inability to speak. And it was all down to a hole in his heart he didn't even know existed.
Chris, a barrister and keen cyclist, says: "It was early morning. I was alone in my flat, getting ready for work. I felt fine, days before I had been riding the regional XC MTB championships, in a moment, I lost the feeling in the right side of my body, and the vision in my right eye was reduced to broad patches of colour.
"I waited a moment, sure that it would resolve, but it didn’t. I was able to call an ambulance, but by the time it arrived I was struggling to talk, and unable to describe what had happened. The paramedic said that it couldn’t be a stroke, because I was only 28."
