Six strokes can’t stop Michael

Dalyston resident Michael Hall has refused to let his sixth stroke stop him from completing a Mount Buffalo hiking trip he was forced to cancel earlier this year.

The 35-year-old recently went back to Victoria’s High Country as part of the Stroke Foundation’s Stride4Stroke campaign, walking for about eight hours across the week.

And he did it alone.

Michael had originally planned to make the trip in February but suffered a stroke just one week before he was due to leave.

He was lying in bed when his right hand suddenly began moving beyond his control.

When he got out of bed, he couldn’t use his legs.

“I fell into my wardrobe, and fell up and down in the hallway,” he said.

Michael called an ambulance and was taken to hospital, where doctors confirmed he’d suffered his sixth stroke.

He was unable to work or drive for a month.

“I couldn’t do the trip that I was going to do a week later,” he said.

Michael was born with a heart condition that leaves him prone to strokes, and he experienced his first stroke at just 23 years old in 2014.

He woke up unable to walk properly, but amazingly, still made his way to work, where his manager immediately recognised something was wrong and told him to seek medical attention.

According to Michael, the staff at the hospital initially believed him to be drunk and discharged him.

He returned the following day after his parents pushed for an MRI scan, which revealed he had suffered a stroke.

“I just remember thinking, ‘What do you mean I’ve had a stroke? I’m not 70’,” he said.

Michael said the experience affected his trust in hospitals and showed why stroke symptoms should be taken seriously, regardless of someone’s age.

“Strokes can actually happen in younger people,” he said.

Since his first stroke in 2014, the following strokes have all occurred roughly two years apart. He has spent more than a month in rehabilitation, learnt to walk again and undergone extensive therapy to regain movement in his hand.

He now walks with a limp, while his left hand remains clenched into a fist with very limited movement.

Michael still works as a banker across the Bass Coast and Gippsland areas, and recently returned to Mount Buffalo, where he walked through the alpine landscape and visited several waterfalls.

The challenge was personal.

“I’m just doing it for myself, just to make sure that I can still do it,” he said.

Michael aims to complete 20 hours of walking throughout September and raise $500 for the Stroke Foundation.

Stroke Foundation CEO Dr Lisa Murphy said about 46,000 stroke events occur across Australia each year, equivalent to one every 11 minutes.