This is my first YouSoRock spotlight on a child stroke survivor and continuing with spotlighting stroke sruvivors for Stroke Awareness Month, I am so inspired by this young man’s story. Joey Devine from Merseyside, England, has had to face more at 10-years-old than most adults. But through AVM, stroke, surgery and rehab, he has shown incredible bravery and resilience! Joey you really are a legend and you have a great name!🤘🏽 Read on as his mom, Karen, tells his story. This is just the beginning for Joey and I can’t wait to see how far he flies in the future!
Joey ‘The Legend’ Devine is 10 years old. On Nov 16, 2018, he had a stroke. Mum (me) dropped him off at school at 8:50, all smart on own clothes day with his dickie bow on, no concerns, absolutely fit and healthy. By 9:02 an ambulance had been called.
He’d gone into class ok but had a funny tingle taste on his tongue, he asked could he get a drink of water and went to the sink at the back of the classroom. His TA said he made a ‘yelp’ noise and backed away from the sink. When asking was he ok, she could see that he wasn’t and he couldn’t speak. He walked over to his desk to write what was wrong, but couldn’t grasp his pen. She walked him out of the classroom and sat in the corridor and sent for me. I was in the school as part of PTFA so I went straight up to see him. The TA was already on the phone to the ambulance when I got there. By this time, he’d also lost the use of his right leg. I knew instantly he’d had a stroke.
The ambulance call was asking all the questions, “Can he grasp both fingers?” “Can he say this certain sentence?” “Is he conscious?” “Can he hear you?” “Is he responding?” This was awful, I just wanted them to come and sort him out but 20 mins passed and still no ambulance! He was hot, but cold, sweating and grey. He was frightened and you could see the panic in his eyes, but he couldn’t tell us. His teachers were lovely, talking to him, reading him his favourite book to try to keep him calm.
I rang Joey’s Dad and my Dad to get them to come. The TA rang the ambulance back to 
see what was the delay, but there were no vehicles free to come for him! We made the decision to take him ourselves. I just kept thinking of the stroke advert and you have to act FAST. Time is of the essence! But what if I was taking him away from a place of safety to go in the car?! I knew he needed seeing so we took him.
The journey was horrendous, Joey began to seizure in the back of the car. I was keeping my own child alive whilst an hour ago, we had been talking about our plans to go trampolining after school and to an awards ceremony that evening!
When we got to Whiston they were amazing. This is my workplace so I rang ahead to tell them we were coming and needed a team ASAP. They took him straight into Resus [trauma area] and tried to stop his seizures. There were questions, “Have you been abroad lately?” “Has he been in touch with anyone with herpes?” “Has he been unwell at all lately?” It didn’t make sense, but he had been fit and well only this morning and was now lying unresponsive on the Resus trolly. Once he was a bit more settled the doctor said he’d do a head scan to rule everything sinister out. This ruled everything in – “I’m sorry” were the only words I heard… He had had a massive bleed. He needed emergency surgery right now! They were so organised and in no time he was on his way with the team to Alder Hey.
We met the surgeon and he confirmed our worst nightmares. He’d had a bleed – a stroke. He’s only 10! He had an AVM – arteriovenous malformation in his brain and it had ruptured. The only way to try to save him was surgery, right now. They would clear the blood clots and see if they could remove the blood vessels that had caused all this. He may not survive, but they had no choice. He may not walk or talk again, he may not know who we are. We signed the consent to say we understood, but the world was a fog. What was happening?!
Joey went to theatre [surgery] around lunch time and we didn’t see him again til gone 9 that evening. They were the longest hours of our lives! But we just hoped that the longer he was away the better. At least he was still alive. They were probably getting on with removing the AVM. I just remember having his socks which they gave us at Whiston when undressing him and his scent just kept us going.
Surgery was successful and he was in critical care, but stable. The next 36 hours were crucial. He was in an induced coma to allow his brain to rest and the swelling to reduce.
He has made a remarkable recovery since that day. We are so so grateful to everyone involved. He is just the Legend he’s always been called!
He has daily physio/OT and weekly swimming with us. Weekly trampoline physio from the community and an hour physio visit once per week. He can now walk with a splint on, he can talk although he suffers from verbal dyspraxia and aphasia at times and his voice is a little robotic, but he can communicate and that is just wonderful! His arm isn’t really playing at the moment. He had some ‘spastic’ movements and rigid/clawed fingers at times, but we are hoping to start intensive arm physio next week. He can grasp things, 
but can’t let go. He was right side dominant before so writing and drawing is proving difficult, but he’s learning well with his left hand. He was an artist and comic maker before his stroke so this is giving him the determination to learn with his other hand.
This week he’s returned to school for 1 hour, 3 times per week. He was a very bright student, but we don’t know where he lies in the classroom at the moment. That will come over time. He is due to go to high school in September and although this is still under debate, we are ever hopeful that he will be able to go with his peers to his chosen school.
To continue to follow Joey’s journey follow him at @joeythe_legend on Instagram. Connect with more stroke and brain injury survivors on the YouSoRock Facebook Support Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/yousorock.
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