of her courageous and inspirational recovery. The book then took me to the strategies she drew upon to help her with her recovery – all of which she’d used with clients in her professional life. A must read for everyone in the stroke community – both those who’ve had a stroke and their families, and the clinical and research teams working in the field. And it’s also a good read for anyone who enjoys a well told story about the power of the human spirit.
Kate Ramsay, AnD Leadership Consulting
Standing Up: My Story of Hope, Advocacy and Survival after Stroke by Kathleen Jordan
Copyright © Kathleen Jordan 2016
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any other information
storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
National Library of Australia cataloguing-in-publication data:
Author: Jordan, Kathleen
Memoir, self-help and personal development
ISBN: 9780648460459 (ePub)
Cover image: Shutterstock
Design: Working Type Studio, Melbourne
Production: Jasmine Standfield
About the authors
Kathleen Jordan is a leadership and development coach working with major corporations, and across various levels of government, law firms and not for profit organisations. Kathleen launched her business, iNTUITIVE iNSIGHTS, in 1995 and has since travelled nationally and internationally working with high-level executives and their management teams. Kathleen was also a board member of the Bionic Ear Institute for 16 years. www.intuitivesights.com.au
Vicki Steggall has been writing professionally for over 25 years. Her work has appeared in numerous books, journals, magazines, and newspapers. In addition to co-authoring or writing non-fiction books she has published two best-selling children’s books. Her most recently published works include In Your Face, a perspective on the history and effects of plastic surgery, and Anything Can Happen, the story of the early years of the iconic Australian fashion retailer, Sportsgirl. She is currently working on two memoirs and a series of children’s books. www.vickisteggall.com.au
This book is dedicated to my two daughters,Emma and Lucinda, whose love and supporthas been instrumental in my being alive today.
To Emma Patricia Keldan, my first born,with eternal love and gratitude.
And in loving memory of Dr Lucinda May Jordan,28 April 1978 to 5 May 2015.A loving, sassy, intelligent and beautiful soul.
Preface
This story gives a compelling insight into the effects of a major stroke that strikes down a vibrant businesswoman, mother and grandmother and her amazing recovery.
Kathleen Jordan, with Vicki Steggall, recounts her stroke journey through the acute trauma, the stroke ward, short and long-term rehabilitation units and, finally, her return to semi-normalcy and everyday life.
There are numerous lessons for every reader in this accessible, emotional and raw story of triumph over adversity.
Standing Up! offers a unique and privileged view of the treating medical staff, the amazing nurses and allied health professionals and, above all, what an extended but close family and friendship network can do to rehabilitate their loved one.
Advocacy, determination and constant belief shine through. The sheer tenacity of the patient in confronting and conquering the challenges of stroke requires an extraordinary sense of self-belief, founded on core values and working with professional advice.
As Kathleen is recovering, she shares with the reader her personal anguish at the loss of her parents and, tragically, her daughter to cancer.
The second part of this story provides a framework of the literature and resources available to support stroke survivors and their carers. Kathleen’s international experience with leadership coaching and consulting bears directly on the techniques she offers, with simple, effective ideas and quotations that will stir your soul.
In closing, to have worked with Kathleen in her former capacity on the board of a major medical research unit and now to have followed her stroke journey is a unique privilege which reinforces the need for the community to know more about stroke, that is preventable, treatable and beatable.
Kathleen is a heroine and her story must be read.
Professor James Angus AO
President, National Stroke Foundation
This is the story of the stroke that I suffered on 23 August 2011 and, more particularly, of the months and years that followed. It is based on my memories and those of my family, who deputised for me in the early post-stroke months and whose extraordinary efforts undoubtedly changed the outcome for me.
There are always many viewpoints about how events unfold. I have been as accurate as I can, but this remains a personal story about my experience.
I have learnt so much from my recovery — about life, about the way our thoughts can help or hinder our progress, and on the need to be open to my new life. I hope what I learnt will help other patients and their families.
Kathleen Jordan
Prelude
I’m racing down Flemington Road in the back of an intensive care ambulance. Faces loom over me, kind questions are asked, but my brain keeps replaying the meeting I have just ruined by collapsing part way through. I’m annoyed to think that it’s now receding into the distance behind me. My addled brain sees it in terms of distance and geography, but what’s really happening is that, along with the rest of my life, it’s receding into time. It’s becoming another era and it will be years before I’m back.
I had a dizzy spell. There have been others, each dramatic but not serious. I’m 62, have moderately raised blood pressure, controlled by tablets and exercise, plus all the usual stresses. That fact that this meeting meant a lot to me no doubt triggered the dizziness. I had been presenting an idea at the Royal Children’s Hospital to boost research into a rare neurological disorder called Angelman Syndrome, a syndrome affecting my grandson, so I was understandably anxious.
Instead, rather dramatically, I’m leaving as a potential neurological patient myself.
When the paramedic speaks kindly, gratitude for this stranger flows over me, calming my cycle of fear and aggravation. But when I look up he seems to have disappeared, along with the interior of the ambulance.
I’ve spent my life being independent, bringing up my daughters and creating a business that takes me around the world consulting to large corporations. I’m on the board of the Bionic Ear Institute (now the Bionics Institute). I’m a mother, a grandmother and about to take on an activist role in an area of children’s health.
And yet here I am, strapped to a trolley, swaying nauseatingly in an ambulance, being rushed to the emergency department. Someone’s hand holds mine. From the Children’s Hospital to the Royal Melbourne Hospital is only a kilometre, but it seems to be taking a lot longer.
Really, I don’t have time for this.
23 August 2011
The day of the stroke — the start of the journey
There is so much to learn when you are uprooted fromthe everyday journey of life to