Blackpool parents' horror after their 'fit and healthy' toddler daughter suffered a stroke

Now Georgia Barnard, 29, of Layton, wants other parents to be aware of the dangers and not to think that children are too young for that kind of illness.

It was in May last year that her little girl Nevaeh, now aged four, unexpectedly fell ill.

One side of youngster’s face suddenly dropped

Georgia, whose partner is motorway works (IPV) driver Scott Dewhirst, 38, said: “Nevaeh was just going to bed when one side of her face suddenly dropped.

"I was really shocked and shouted at her to put her hands above her head, one of the things you ask stroke victims to do.

"She was able to do it, so I asked her if she was just messing about because I wasn’t sure.

"She was fit and healthy and there’d been no obvious signs anything was wrong.”

Georgia, who was working as a nursery nurse at the time, took Nevaeh to the bathroom to brush her teeth but a few minutes later the toddler stumbled to the floor and her frantic mum phoned for an ambulance.

“I asked them how soon it would be and they told me ‘as long as it takes’! “ she said.

"So I just said ‘forget it!’ and drove her myself. From her having the stroke it only took about 15 or 20 minutes for me to get her to the hospital. About a five minute drive – I wasn’t waiting!”

Shock as doctors diagnosed the problem

At Blackpool Victoria Hospital staff noticed that Nevaeh’s face had dropped and that her speech was slurred, and carried out tests.

A CT scan was clear but when the MRI tests eventually came back, they told Georgia the new she was dreading – it was a stroke, with Nevaeh having suffered a blood clot on the brain.

Georgia said: “My mind was racing. Had something happened that I had missed, had she had an accident?

"But she hadn’t, it was something that had been forming without anyone knowing about it, which is the scary thing.”

Nevaeh had to be transferred to Royal Manchester Children's Hospital for further testing, and while there she needed an intense course of physiotherapy and speech therapy to help her learn to walk and talk again.

Fundraisers helped family

Georgia and Scott spent four weeks in Ronald McDonald House, the special accommodation for patients’ families, to stay close to her.

During this time supportive relatives set up a crowdfunding page and raised £1,550 to help them through the financial strain.

The couple say they will always be grateful for the help they received.

Georgia, who now works as a speech and language therapy assistant, says Nevaeh has now made great progress at new school Layton Primary since her stroke, with ongoing help from physio experts and speech and language therapists.

She added: "Nevaeh is still on aspirin which will be reviewed in April, when she has another scan.

"Her speech is still not quite back to normal yet but she is doing well.

“I think parents should be aware of symptoms and never think children are too young to have a stroke.

"It’s so important to act quickly and get them the help they need straightaway.”