PAUL Allen was the manager of the Wellworth store in the newly built Westwood Shopping Centre when it first opened in 1990. After several years at the helm in Andersonstown where he was a familiar face he moved on and managed the supermarket's store on the Shore Road.
Originally from Omagh in County Tyrone, several years ago he survived a stroke, and as it is said that “there is at least one book in all of us” he has put pen to paper and written about his experiences and journey since in a new book ‘The Final Piece Peace’ – A Stroke Survivor's Journey of Discovery.
“The Final Piece Peace stems from my personal experiences after suffering an atypical stroke and maybe more importantly it details how I managed to navigate the quagmire that my mind had been reduced to in the months or indeed truthfully the years that have passed post stroke,” he said. “Unfortunately, my stroke was not diagnosed for over four months after it occurred following an initial fall and head trauma.”
Paul says that after a stroke there is much relief that you have indeed moved into that group of people who can class themselves as a ‘survivor’ but that comes after the initial shock and the ‘why me?’ syndrome.
“At some point I read that one-in-four people over the age of 25 will suffer at least one stroke in their life-time," he said. "Of those ten to 15 per cent don’t make it to hospital and up to 25 per cent more don’t get beyond the first 24 hours. Towards 3,000 people each week in the UK suffer a stroke, that’s 152,000 per year, or to put it another way that equates to one person every five minutes.
“Of the survivors only a very small percentage make a complete recovery, the rest of us have untold and often misunderstood brain damage and/or physical impairments. It is said that no two strokes are the same but then again no two people are the same. We all have our own personalities, our own views on the world, never mind many different levels of education. Then we should also consider our own place on any countless number of spectrums that exist.
“So, who’s really brave enough to say which of us are normal to start with and indeed who can actually determine what a normal brain or mind is? Therefore, when all things are considered, should we really expect the medical profession to be able to fix the inner workings of each individual working mind? The answer is unfortunately no, it is actually really up to the survivor to rebuild that broken jigsaw themselves.”
Paul Allen
Paul says that over the last ten years he has successfully managed to battle his way from the depths of ill-health, despair, forced retirement and prescription drug addiction to find, design and develop a new him.
“I was then able to pursue my dreams of sailing to France and then travel around the European waterways for over eight years. Hopefully my book covers my stroke journey and it just might be of use to others in a similar position.”
The Final Peace can be purchased directly from the Shanway Press www.shanway.com priced £21.55.
