Sport legend speaks out on fight against strokes

Inga Tuigamala survived a stroke and wants others to be aware of the risks. Photo / Paul Estcourt

A weird and frightening feeling spread over Inga Tuigamala, but the former All Black and professional league player had no idea he was having a stroke.

All he knew was that he was having a bad round at the Titirangi golf course and his body was feeling strange - his right fingers and toes felt like they were curling up and his face had started to droop to the right.

He quit playing after four or five holes and drove home to Glendene.

An ambulance had been called and he was whisked to Waitakere Hospital, then later to North Shore Hospital.

"My blood pressure was way off the roof," the 41-year-old, a father of four, undertaker and gym owner, recalled yesterday of the scare in 2007.

A mild stroke was diagnosed. He was put on medication and advised to improve his diet, get more exercise - and slow down, "which is something I find hard to do".

He is fortunate to have had no serious lasting effects.

This is stroke awareness week.

Each year around 6000 people have strokes, and the condition - in which brain arteries burst or, more commonly, become blocked by a clot - kills more than 2500.

Mr Tuigamala said he was making some progress on lifestyle changes - reducing meat intake and getting more exercise.

When his sporting career ended in 2002, his weight, which had been 120kg, shot up after he started eating "anything and everything".

He reached 164kg, but was now back in the 140s.

He started the gym last year mainly to help Pacific Island men lose weight and reduce health risks.

In his family's funeral business - now run mainly by wife Daphne, whose birthday is today - , Mr Tuigamala said they saw too many Pacific men die too young from preventable diseases.

"I'm the product of a father who passed away of a heart attack at the age of 49. Mum was left with 14 children to raise."

Auckland University neurologist Professor Alan Barber said that for blockage strokes, "clot-busting" treatment must be started within 4 hours of the stroke's onset, or it wouldn't work because the damage was done.

"I see people who have waited to see if they would 'come right' or made an appointment to see their GP. They should have dialled 111 immediately, because when you have a stroke you are losing more brain cells every minute.

"If people get to hospital in time ... treatment may make a huge difference to how disabled they are by their stroke. Put simply, time is brain."

FAST CHECK

The Stroke Foundation promotes the "FAST" check for stroke:
* F for Face - is the smile drooping on one side?
* A for Arms - raise both arms. Is one side weak?
* S for Speech - are words jumbled or slurred?
* T for Time - call 111 immediately if stroke suspected.


STROKE FOUNDATION
www.stroke.org.nz