Wallabi Point resident Cynthia Burke is on a mission to help save people's lives.
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After surviving a ruptured brain aneurysm in 2016, an event that most people don't survive, Cynthia feels passionately about raising awareness on brain aneurysms and strokes.
Previously the owner of the Little Red Café in Wingham, on the day she had the medical emergency she had been working. After work she attended a music festival in Old Bar with friends.
"I'd only been there about an hour. I said to my friends 'we'll get up and have a dance in a minute' and then I talked to a couple of friends and then felt like I had been hit by a truck. I had incredible pain at the back of my head," Cynthia recalls.
The pain was a brain aneurysm rupturing. Prior to the event, Cynthia had no symptoms to indicate there was an aneurysm sitting in her brain.
Life is now basically the polar opposite to what it was.
- Cynthia Burke
Four years on, Cynthia has an aquired brain injury and her deficits are very similar to that of having had a stroke. She's extremely sensitive to light and sound, cannot cope with more than one or two people at a time, finds conversations hard to understand and has short term memory loss, as well as some physical deficits in the left side of her body.
"I get very confused and off balance if I'm out of my normal circumstances. Life is 180 degrees from what it was," Cynthia says.
Desperate to prevent the same thing happening to other people, Cynthia searched for an avenue where she could raise awareness. There is no specific service for brain aneurysms as people don't generally survive a rupture. The Stroke Foundation was the closest option she found.
In 2019 Cynthia became a volunteer StrokeSafe Speaker, and offers presentations on stroke awareness to local community groups and businesses.
It's a service that is important to our community. The Lyne electorate is higher than the NSW average in 2020 with statistics showing 119 in 100,000 suffered a stroke during the year.
"I talk to them about what is a stroke, how to recognise a stroke, what to do to prevent a stroke - because 80 per cent are preventable," she says.
"It's just talking to people about managing their blood pressure, cholesterol, healthy diet, not smoking, exercising regularly, and getting to know your GP and having a good relationship with them. And also knowing your family history."
A byproduct of doing the StrokeSafe presentations is also raising awareness on brain aneurysms, as Cynthia relates her own story.
Aneurysms don’t give any symptoms. The first symptom is often the last, and the survival rate is very low.
"Aneurysms don't give any symptoms. The first symptom is often the last, and the survival rate is very low. But, if people know their family history - they can be hereditary - they can be detected, watched and there can be preventative measures put in place before they rupture," Cynthia says.
To request Cynthia's services as a StrokeSafe Speaker, go to strokefoundation.org.au/What-we-do/Prevention-programs/StrokeSafe-Speakers and fill in the 'Request a speaker' form.
To learn more about strokes visit strokefoundation.org.au.
Julia Driscoll
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
