Pete's story
"At the time of my stroke in March 2019 I was CEO of a small Scottish charity, Positive Prison? Positive Futures, a peer-led organisation working to improve the Scottish justice system based on the lived experience of people who served time in Scottish prisons. Recognised by Scottish Government as key stakeholders in justice reform, we worked to constructive effect with Scottish civil servants and parliament.
"After the first few years I got a bit carried away and obsessed with it all. I got to the stage where I was more focused on campaigning than how I was as a human being. So, at a board meeting in Glasgow, I collapsed with a stroke caused by a brain haemorrhage. I lost my vision and my voice, as well as control of the left side of my body. I was in Glasgow then Edinburgh Royal Infirmaries before I was transferred to the Astley Ainslie Hospital. That was where, instead of simply being kept alive, I was being helped to have a future.
"Meanwhile the trustees closed the charity and made me redundant, which left me angry. I couldn’t understand why they’d let it all go. My voice and vision had come back with a bit of help, though regaining control of the left side of my body was, and still is, a slow process. I no longer had the charity on which to focus my energy, but a friend encouraged me to see this as a gift, rather than focus on my anger. So I did that.
"After over four months in hospitals, I was discharged and referred to the Edinburgh Community Stroke Service for a wide range of things to do with building self-confidence physically, emotionally and psychologically. That all stopped with the onset of the pandemic.
"Living in my first floor flat in a Victorian tenement, I was very dependent on other folk to help me get outside. I didn’t get out much unless somebody came to take me out. On top of that I was quite weather dependent too, so overall I was very sedentary.
"My journey to Thistle was started after a friend heard one of their practitioners speaking at an event about the organisation’s work and encouraged me to get in touch. When I first came to Thistle, I had no idea what to expect. Despite all the physio I’d done, I was far from comfortable about the idea of coming to a gym but found it both welcoming and spacious. It was quite busy when I arrived and the staff were very friendly. There was no sense of being patronised or mollycoddled. It was all done without judgment.
"Through coming to the gym, I discovered that I could readily accept help, something I’d found hard to do before. To begin with it would take two or three people to help me on and off the cross-trainer and rowing machine, but once I was on the equipment, I’d be okay. Now I can use these machines unaided. The difference Thistle has brought to my life is immense. People who knew me before and since my stroke can see straight away that I’m quite different in the way I now stand and move, and that I’m quite active. It’s been a remarkable experience.
"I’m now comfortable in the gym. I’ve learned to push myself a bit, and, moving from that lockdown experience, this has been tremendously fulfilling. Thistle is now a vital part of my life and has transformed it. I’ve found great benefit from one-to-one sessions with a health and wellbeing practitioner, where we talk about anything that’s not to do with my physical wellbeing. I’ve found that very helpful emotionally, as otherwise you can become trapped in your own mind about the body.
"I’ve made good friends here and we enjoy some entertaining banter. The idea of a collective of people who are all there for different reasons makes for good conversation and recognition of each other as individuals, rather than people against whom you might compare yourself.
"I now live in a city centre flat in sheltered accommodation with lift access. I have my own electric wheelchair and am able to come and go unaided. Prior to my stroke I’d been a keen cyclist but now I’ve got a recumbent e-tricycle from Laid Back Bikes in Edinburgh – they were wonderful with getting this set up. My first test rides pedalling up and down the road across from their shop brought tears of joy.
"I try to go out on the trike at least once a week in the better weather. The combination of pedalling in addition to my activities in Thistle’s gym has been incredibly helpful. One measure of how I’m doing is going to and from Portobello. It used to be quite hard, painful work coming back home up the Innocent Railway tunnel. It still is hard work, but now it’s painless, and my average speed is creeping up. My ambition is to be able to ride my trike to Thistle, go to the gym, and then ride home. I’m also going to grow my hair so I can enjoy the feeling of the wind going through it.
"If I hadn’t found Thistle, I would still be bumbling along. I now do things I never thought I could have – things that I can not only make use of in the gym, but at home I can do far more, and out and about as well. It’s boosted my confidence and abilities in ways I could never have dreamed possible four years ago when I couldn’t really walk. I am amazed and delighted by what I’ve found here, and that goes for all the people as well as everything offered here."