Fareham dad, 45, on mission to live life to the fullest after suffering stroke

In August last year, Richard Ponting from Fareham had been at work as a site manager of a school for less than an hour when he felt his whole body go weak and was unable to move or talk.

A colleague found him and dialled for an ambulance to send the 45-year-old straight to Southampton General Hospital.

Richard had suffered a bleed on the brain. He had to stay in hospital for six months, first on the neuro intensive care unit at SGH and then he was moved to the critical care at Queen Alexandra Hospital.

He has since been able to leave hospital but the stroke has affected his mobility, hearing, eyesight and sense of touch and means he now has a wheelchair.

Richard said: ‘For the first month I was extremely ill, fighting off pneumonia and chest infection after chest infection.

‘To go from a completely fit and healthy person to severely disabled in the blink of an eye was a complete shock and there is a sense of grief for the life we used to have.

‘But thanks to all the interventions and support, we now have a chance of creating a new chapter in our life. Just this time it comes with a wheelchair!’

Now wife Louise and daughters Saskia, 21, and Lydia,10, help him out at home but Richard, a lover of biking and scuba diving, hasn’t let what happened change his positive outlook on life.

He said: ‘My stroke happened completely out of the blue and took me by surprise, but I have never once said “why me?” because quite simply “why not me?”’

SEE ALSO: Solent Mind launches out-of-hours coronavirus mental health helpline

‘Before the stroke, I was always on the go but that hasn’t stopped me as we are still able to go out, and now I get the best parking spaces!’

After a long journey of recovery, Richard said he couldn’t have done it without the support of the hospital teams.

He added: ‘Every member of staff from the cleaners to the consultants, they have all had a role to play in my recovery. The staff at QA are amazing, especially all those on F1 Ward where I spent many months.

‘But I must say there is a special place in my heart for Mihaela Bartlett, an occupational therapy associate practitioner and physiotherapist Laura Ineson.

‘They never gave up on me, their support and dedication was out of this world.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

The News is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Portsmouth news online - as well as our new Puzzles section.