Youth evangelist suffers stroke

New Zealand youth evangelist Winkie Pratney is slowly recovering from a brain aneurysm suffered on Boxing Day.

Mr Pratney, 65, has an organisation based in Texas in the United States, and thousands of young followers worldwide,

He began complaining of a headache after Christmas and was rushed to Auckland's Middlemore Hospital, where doctors said he had suffered a haemorrhagic stroke, which included bleeding within the brain.

Though he has been discharged, his son William Pratney said in a blog his father's recovery was slow.

"I want him to make progress, and quick, but he's definitely not acting like all the man I know him to be," he wrote.

"Part of him has been lost. Part of him has died. And that part (that part of his brain or that part of his functioning) is what we need to see revived".

Mr Pratney is author of several books.

- NZPA