Stroke survivor Carrie Treneman, from Bury St Edmunds, will run the London Marathon for the Stroke Association in April 2024
A stroke survivor is set to take on the London Marathon, two years after her husband was told to say his last goodbyes.
Carrie Treneman, 55, of Bury St Edmunds, will be running for The Stroke Association to raise awareness of acting fast, when someone has symptoms.
The nurse, who married her husband Bill, 62, four months before she had the stroke, said it was an ordinary evening in December 2021, when she went to bed feeling unwell.
Carrie, who was 52 at the time, woke later that night to go to the toilet and doesn’t remember anything about what happened next. Bill rushed to check on his wife after hearing a loud bang and knew instantly something was wrong.
Ironically, earlier that day the couple had been discussing the symptoms of a stroke. Carrie couldn’t move her left side and her husband immediately called for an ambulance.
Carrie said: “He thought I was going to die, the hospital told him to say his last goodbyes.”
Bill’s quick actions and the treatment Carrie received at West Suffolk Hospital, where she worked as a Macmillan nurse, saved her life.
The grandmother was given medication within a crucial four hour window and came to on a ward, six hours after suffering the stroke.
She said: “I couldn’t move or speak and I had no idea what had happened to me. It was in my head at this point that I knew this wasn’t going to beat me. That kind of spurred on my grit and determination.”
Following the stroke, Carrie was fully paralysed down her left side, had no speech, memory issues and was tube fed. While receiving treatment she was only able to Facetime her husband, communicating with him by writing down words on pieces of paper.
She said: “Bill was my rock and my everything, when the stroke happened he adapted our home and supported me twenty-four-seven, he was amazing.”
As Carrie prepares to run the marathon, she has most of her physicality back but does struggle with fatigue, balance, speech issues and some of her cognitive ability. She believes her faith in God helped her on the road to recovery and is motivating her long training runs.
Carrie said: “I always wanted to get back to my best after the stroke.”
Having signed up for the marathon thinking it would be a laugh, Carrie will proudly wear the words ‘stroke survivor’ on her running vest as she is cheered on by Bill and her family.
Carrie has raised more than £1,500 of her £2,000 target, you can sponsor her here.
