Strokes: Mum did not expect to have stroke aged 32

Ms Dennis said she has often struggled to explain to her daughter what happened.

“When she falls over, she gets a plaster. How can I explain you can’t put a plaster on your brain?” she said.

Support has come from Dave Jones, who faced a similar challenge seven years ago, having a stroke six months after becoming a father, and is now a peer support coordinator for the Stroke Association.

“Dave was able to tell me the strategies he’s put in place with his son that I was then able to take inspiration from,” Ms Dennis said.

Speaking of her stroke, she said “there was nothing that indicated that something so traumatic and big could happen at that point in my life”.

“We got married in the November. Life wasn’t meant to be me being unwell – we had plans,” she said.

She added that she got upset in hospital, particularly when thinking about her daughter, Cari, but that things got more difficult when she got home.

The former office manager does her best to focus on the achievements – including walking from the car to the school gate without a crutch – but the adjustments have not always been easy.

“Watching somebody else pick her up and physically take her to school – that was hard. That should have been me,” she said.