Post by Di on Aug 3, 2005 10:19:04 GMT -5
This interview was in the Summer issue of Stroke News
Britain's most popular female newsreader, Sophie Raworth, talks openly about how stroke first shocked her family 10 years ago.
Sophie Raworth is currently one of the youngest national newsreaders on television. At just 37 years old Sophie has gone from studying French and German at Manchester University to working as a young reporter for the BBC in various locations such as Brussels, Manchester and Leeds. If this wasn't good enough she then spent 5 years on the popular BBC Breakfast sofa with Jeremy Bowen before joining the prestigious Six 0' clock news as its anchorwoman.
But about 10 years ago Sophie Raworth and her family, like so many others were rocked by the news that a close family member had suffered a massive stroke.
Diana Raworth was Sophie's father's youngest sister. One of four siblings, she achieved a successful acting career, including playing seamstress Betty in the immensely popular BBC drama 'The House of Elliott' which was her last role.
"My aunt was an extremely vibrant women" recalls Sophie. "As well as being an amazing actress she was also a fantastic chef and ran her own restaurant where I used to work as a waitress. I was extremely fond of her."
When Diana had the stroke it came completely out of the blue.
"My mother and aunt used to go horse riding often and one day while they were out she complained that she had been having bad headaches." Soon after this Diana collapsed suddenly and her family rushed her to hospital immediately. When they arrived doctors informed the family that Diana had suffered two aneurysms (a weakness in the wall of the artery), a type of stroke most common in younger people.
"It was a complete shock to us all. At just 49 she seemed so young when the stroke happened and was an active, healthy woman. I knew nothing about stroke and it just came like a bolt out of the blue. I was in Manchester at the time and I remember traveling down to see her in hospital. Although she was in and out of consciousness she did recognize me and told me I was silly for making the long journey to visit her."
"I had no idea what a stroke was before this happened," Sophie recollects.
"I remember someone from the hospital explaining it to me as being like a weak point on a bicycle tyre that had eventually burst."
Although Diana had two aneurysms, only one had actually burst and the hospital had to operate urgently to prevent the second one bursting as well.
Unfortunately the operation was unsuccessful and the damage to her brain was so severe that she never recovered. Diana received excellent attention in a London hospital before being taken to a care home where she eventually died about four years after her stroke.
"Even though we were a very close family before, the experience really drew everyone together. We were united in our shock and bewilderment of how it could happen to someone so young and vibrant."
Like so many people who have seen the effects of stroke first hand, Sophie does stress the importance of making people more aware of stroke although even her own knowledge of how to prevent a stroke is limited.
"To be honest I could not list the risk factors for stroke before or now for that matter. I think the problem with awareness and understanding is the actual term stroke, it does not effectively describe what a stroke is and how it affects a person. For example I always thought a stroke was similar to a heart attack and I think many people hold this same misconception."
It is certainly fair to say that if anyone can offer sound advice on how to effectively communicate with the general public it's Sophie Raworth. She agrees that communicating crucial messages about stroke, such as the fact it can happen to anyone and that every stroke is different depending on the individual, is problematic.
"It would be great if people generally had an improved awareness of stroke," she comments. "But the media is just one way of doing this. The whole community has a role to play and must take responsibility in how we achieve it."
Over the years Sophie has gained much acclaim for her authoritative presence as a newsreader so now at the top of her game where does she go from here? "To be honest I have no idea what the future holds fro me," she replies. "I am very happy at the moment. I had my daughter a year ago and I just taking the time to be a mum."