Stroke warning signs: How Adelaide doctor John Sangster knew there was something wrong

HE kept bumping into trees. His vision was blurred. Dr John Sangster knew something was wrong — and he was right. By the time his wife got him to the hospital, his life was on the brink.

DR John Sangster realised something was wrong as he left Adelaide Oval last year after barracking Sturt to the SANFL flag.

He kept bumping into things. After the bus trip to Goodwood, he bumped into trees as he walked home. His balance was off. His vision was blurred.

The retired cardiologist, 75, who played a few games for Sturt in his younger years, told his wife Verity something was amiss and he better get to hospital.

Mrs Sangster drove him to Wakefield Hospital where staff who had been alerted were waiting. He was having a brain bleed, a deadly form of stroke where seconds count.

He was put into a coma for a month then spent several more months in hospital, paralysed down his left side. His life was on the brink.

“I remember arriving at hospital but the rest is a blank,” he recalls. “When I came out of the coma, I thought I was at our Robe beach house.

“But I was paralysed down one side and my left vision was gone. I had no balance and had to learn to walk again.”

Months of rehabilitation followed. However, the quick action in getting to an intensive care hospital means not only did Dr Sangster live, he has regained most of his mobility.

He can walk and even play golf, although his left side vision has not returned. Dr Sangster will be a keynote speaker at the Stroke Conference at SAHMRI on Monday and has some blunt messages for the community.

Dr John Sangster, 75, suffered a stroke last year and is now encouraging others to go to hospital if they have stroke-like symptoms. Picture: AAP/ Keryn Stevens

“Be aware of the symptoms of stroke and if you have them get to a hospital as soon as possible,” he said.

“I am lucky I am alive, and that the devastating after effects were not worse — I could have been paralysed down my left side forever if we had not acted as quickly as we did. If you have disturbed balance, are clumsy when walking, can’t see things properly, get to hospital quickly.”

The theme of the Stroke Conference is encouraging increased collaboration between the various streams of research, medical professionals, health services and the community, and will feature national leaders in stroke research and management as well as families of victims.

Originally published as Stroke warning signs: How Adelaide doctor John Sangster knew there was something wrong