How a stroke patient is helping save lives at RNSH
Andrew Schupp received lifesaving treatment for a stroke at Royal North Shore Hospital. What he did next to help others was incredible.
Mosman
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Design manager Andrew Schupp was having a regular day in the office when his life changed.
He suddenly became extremely dizzy and within minutes he was being rushed to Royal North Shore Hospital where scans revealed he had just had a stroke. Mr Schupp was 46 at the time.
“I thought I was having a migraine and it just got worse and worse, and the room started spinning around,” Mr Schupp said.
“I called over one of my colleagues and said I don’t feel so well. He called the ambulance straight away which was probably the best thing he did.”
Mr Schupp spent a week in hospital after the stroke in June last year and received lifesaving treatment. He was relatively back to normal on the third day.
The day before the stroke he had flown from Perth to Sydney and a clot is believed to have formed in his leg. Doctors also discovered he had a hole in his heart and this was patched up in surgery to prevent any future clot from passing through and travelling to his brain.
Mr Schupp returned to work and decided he wanted to give back to the stroke unit at RNSH. He was working on the 1 Denison St construction project in North Sydney and his company Multiplex helped him kickstart a fundraising drive on site.
“We came up with the idea of creating a jumper which celebrated the site, our client and the building,” he said.
“We then auctioned off advertising on the back of the jumpers for all our subcontractors. They were extremely generous and we ended up with just over $122,000. It’s a lot of money.”
The team hit the target in July this year and to top off his recovery year Mr Schupp also ran the City2Surf, finishing in just 82 minutes.
The money will be used by the hospital to buy two new portable cardiac monitors and will also be invested into the neuro-interventional radiology service, which helps reduce the chances of future disability for stroke patients.
Mr Schupp helped launch the North Foundation, previously known as the Kolling Foundation. It is the fundraising arm for RNSH, Ryde and Hornsby Ku-ring-gai hospitals and the Kolling Institute of Medical research.
Mr Schupp is this week’s Mosman Daily nominee for the Pride of Australia awards. Nominate a hero today at prideofaustralia.com.au