Issy Fox is the doting mother of a baby boy, enjoying a normal and healthy lifestyle in Cheshire, England. A sudden stroke changed her life, believed to be caused by a contraceptive pill Fox began taking just three months prior to her stroke.
Mother-of-One Experiences Stroke
As she recounts on her blog, Fox was at home on Feb. 8, spending time with her mother and son Freddie when she suddenly began stuttering her words, unable to control her speech.
Soon, her entire face has collapsed on one side and her arm begins exhibiting numbness.
After being whisked off to the hospital and undergoing an MRI scan, the young mother finds out the surprising diagnosis: a stroke on her right frontal lobe.
Fox recalls the frightening experience, saying that at one point in North Staffs Hospital, her face and hand were entirely paralyzed.
At just 28 years old, Fox is now a stroke survivor with brain damage.
Doctors Believe Pill Is To Blame
According to Fox, the medical officials are nearly certain that the contraceptive pill she was taking caused the blood clot that led to the stroke.
"All the blood tests and heart tests showed no other reason for the stroke," Fox says in a report from Manchester Evening News, adding that her family history, heart rate, and blood tests were all fine. "The only thing that had recently changed was the fact that I had recently gone on the pill."
Fox began taking the pills in November 2018, three months before her stroke.
Now that it's been more than a month since Fox's diagnosis, the mother-of-one is recovering well with her hand at full strength and her face getting better every day. However, as she tells her followers on a more recent blog posted on March 4, the emotional and psychological struggles of being a stroke survivor is challenging as well.
Fox hopes to support fellow stroke survivors and raise awareness for the potential dangers of contraceptive pills, no matter how low the risks may be.
She will be running 5k on March 24 to raise funds for Stroke Association, an organization dedicated to providing support for stroke survivors and loved ones. Her mother Rhiannon Fox will be participating as well.
"Raising awareness is really important to me at the moment," Fox explains in Manchester Evening News. "Not a lot of women do know that it is one of the risks associated with taking hormonal contraception."
