Mr Nightingill said: “I kept thinking what Mr Tolias said about thanking him in five years’ time — it’s one of the things that kept going to get to the point I’m at today.” Mr Tolias said: “It’s cases like this which show how vital it is that patients come to hospital like King’s, which have the expertise to deal with such a complex case.”
Strokes occur when the brain is deprived of oxygen. This lack of oxygen coupled with decreased blood flow can kill brain cells. A stroke in someone aged under 45 is considered very rare and one on the scale that Mr Nightingill suffered is even rarer.
At then time of the operation, his family was told that surgery was risky and that no one could predict what condition Mr Nightingill would be in afterwards and for the rest of his life.
He spent three weeks at King’s then months in a local hospital followed by years of rehabilitation. His recovery involved relearning everything, including walking.
Maria Fitzpatrick, consultant nurse for strokes, said: “His brain had to relearn everything that we normally take for granted.”
