July 18, 2019 12.05 pm This story is over 56 months old

Lincoln stroke survivor stars in national campaign

Extending life-saving treatment

A Lincoln father of three who suffered a stroke while training at a gym is the star of a national TV campaign.

Ronnie Staton was running on a treadmill getting ready for an upcoming marathon when he felt a sharp pain above his eye.

He didn’t know it yet, but he was suffering a stroke. “It felt quite sinister,” Ronnie said. “It wasn’t like a headache I’d felt before.

“I just began to feel really uncoordinated and disorientated.”

Shortly after Ronnie was taken to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham where Doctor Wazim Izzath performed a thrombectomy which save his life.

It removed the blockage in a blood vessel on his brain. Ronnie was concious during the operation and as the clot was removed he could start moving again.

Without the treatment Ronnie would only have had a 47% chance of survival.

A new NHS Long Term Plan aims to make sure that the treatment which Ronnie had would be rolled out to more patients in the future.

Ronnie added: “The thrombectomy was an absolute life-saver for me. I’ve got my body, I’ve got my mind.

“It kind of feels like a second chance at life, which unfortunately a lot of people don’t get if they don’t get that thrombectomy.”