Ep 44 - Faith After A Stroke (In Memory of Devon)

Dee’s story starts with a request: record the conversation, then hold it until later. We did and now we’re sharing it with heavy hearts, because Dee has since passed away. What you’re about to hear is a moving testimony about stroke survival, faith under pressure, and the kind of resilience you don’t learn until life forces you to. Please note there’s a trigger warning for health trauma and hospital experiences. 

We talk through Dee’s background as an island man who grew up with little, watched his mum carry the weight, and learned how to become a man without a steady father figure. He also opens up about racism in the UK, including violent incidents that left him fighting for safety and dignity. That stress carries into adulthood, where burnout, poor sleep, and intense work pressure collide with a season of trying to return to God and rebuild his spiritual life. 

Then the health crisis hits. Dee describes alarming symptoms, repeated GP visits, being dismissed and misdiagnosed, and the moment everything spirals into a stroke, coma, and emergency brain surgeries with a 5% survival chance. We speak honestly about what recovery looks like after a stroke: fear, dependence, relearning speech and movement, emotional shifts, and the grief of losing the future you thought you had. Through it all, Dee points to prayer, family support, and surrendering control as the anchors that keep him standing. 

If Dee’s testimony helps you, share it with someone who needs hope, subscribe for more conversations like this, and leave a review so more listeners can find the Unfiltered Christian podcast. What part of Dee’s journey stayed with you the most?

Transcript

A Posthumous Release And Warning

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Shalom Saints, before we begin this episode, I wanted to share some bittersweet news. This conversation was recorded in January 2025 with my special guest, Dee, who shared his inspiring story of overcoming his stroke a year later. Dee asked me to release this episode in 2026. Sadly, he passed away in February 2026, and I'm honouring his wishes by sharing it a year later. I hope you find his journey as moving and as powerful as I did. Hi Saints, welcome back to the Unfiltered Christian podcast. Today we're having a special guest called Dee. I just want to put a trigger warning that some people might be affected or going through it for the topic that we're going to talk about today.

Identity Faith And Religion

SPEAKER_01 1:03

So, our first question is can you please briefly introduce yourself and share a little bit about your background?

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Um hi, my name is Dee for everyone. Um blessings. Um an island man. Island man, yes. I am a six foot six island man. Um came to this country in 1999. Um yeah, um where did I go from there? Never done this before. Where do I go from there?

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Okay, no worries, I'll help you out. Are you a Christian? Not a Christian, you know what's funny? What faith was you what faith did you grow up in?

SPEAKER_00 1:42

I grew up as a Baptist actually.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Yeah, then my mum got converted to SDA, then obviously we got converted to SDA. But these days I don't really like you using the term Christian. I believe I'm more a follower of Christ. Okay. Because this religion thing is very word of me these days.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

No, I hear that. It's kind of like religion, yeah, like war and confusion where you're just a vessel.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

I hear that. I just think it's more so they use that term to control people. And it's not really um for me personally, it's not really a thing where there's not a lot of honesty.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

I believe, well, especially in the SDH church, you know, they say don't do this, they don't do that. You can't hold hands with a girlfriend or whatever, but you still got 20 picnic back home. Our marriage. But yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

I hear you. Okay. So you're a follower of Christ.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

An island man.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

You moved her when you was young.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

You started off Baptist. You're now a follower of Christ. And we'll keep it to that. I love that. I love that for you. Um, what role did faith play in your life growing up, if any?

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Um, growing up, we never had much. Um, we never had much. Always seeing mum work in multiple jobs. It was a weird one. Like the thing is, I always knew God was with me. I can't even explain it. I would always ask God, God, why am I so tall? Why am I so big? Why am I hand so big? You know, like um why are we in?

SPEAKER_01 3:21

You always had a relationship with him without you realizing how deep you had a relationship. Exactly. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

I always felt like I was special. I know it sounds a bit not even self-centered. I can't even explain it, but I always knew that he was with me.

SPEAKER_02 3:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

But yeah. So yeah, we grew up, never had much, but we were happy. Then we got the chance to come to this country to make something of ourselves. No, you got our mom for that boy because when you're younger, you don't realize what your parents go through to make a life for you. Was it your mum and dad, or was it just you and like your mom and back home his mum and dad bought he did his own madness, you know, some Caribbean men? Yeah, so he did his own madness. That was that's another thing in itself, having to well technically grew up without a father. Okay, biological father in a sense, yeah. Um having to find out what an actual man is or what kind of man I want to be by myself, which was difficult. The same for brothers, actually. But um, yeah, but we we move, man, we grow. Yeah, yeah, we grow.

SPEAKER_01 4:28

And then like, would you say that your relationship with Yahweh strengthened when you were here when you came to London, or was it more

Racism Violence And Being Arrested

SPEAKER_01 4:40

than because like um one new environment, yeah, you pick up things.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Um sometimes I'm I'm a strong believer of if you're not if you weren't born here, wherever you were born, it's good to come back to get a recharge and a reset because sometimes they say life can take over your morals and principles and those kind of things. So um, yeah, I think it it it went downhill because I went through some stuff over here as well, where it's bullying, racist attacks, those kind of things. Really? Yeah, man, I got racial attack, like I've been racial attacked, see one, four times, give or take. Wow, like verbally, physically, not physically, one where I had to spend 23 hours in a cell for defending myself. Yeah, I've been through it, man.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

What ages was these?

SPEAKER_00 5:30

So the one where I had to spend 23 hours in a cell, I was I think night between 19 and 21. I was doing a bus stop for my mum to come and get me, and these two Caucasian guys who were drunk came, called me the N-word, and basically one of them rugby tackled me. And we were basically fighting in the middle of the road and it's abroad crossing.

SPEAKER_01 5:57

All in front of mum.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

No, she wasn't there yet.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

But the Holy Ghost told her to drive.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

She can see two figures on the road rolling down. When she got there, she realized it was me and pulled the guy off me. I went to get my stuff from the bus stop. Some people said turn around, turn around, and the guy was sizing my mom up. All the time I wasn't doing I didn't I didn't do anything to the guy. Yeah, I was just saying get off me, get off me. But then when I saw him do that to my mum, that's when I lost it. I won't even say why I did it, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Yeah, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

That's in the past, but call the police to report it, and me being a black man, so tall, got arrested as well.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

Wow. Yeah. I never knew that. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Yeah, man. Six form on the bus home, enough times.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Wow. It's kind of crazy when you think that obviously you used to hear about racism like back in the day, or the area do you the area you live, is it predominantly white or yeah, well, when when I first moved, yes. Okay, okay, okay. So it just shows you sometimes when you because and um this is not to put anything out there, but within the UK, a lot of ethnic minorities is all put in an area, so like London, there'll be certain parts, Leeds there'll be certain parts, Manchester, Birmingham, there'll be certain parts, but then there's other parts that are outside where you're you're literally an ethnic minority.

SPEAKER_03 7:22

Yeah, of course it is.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Um because from for wherever wherever I live in London, like I can count people that are not an ethnic minority on my hand, yeah. Um, yeah, so that's it's crazy to hear, but then where you were living was the opposite way around. Yeah, you went to be like that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

It's all an experience, man. It's all an experience, you know. I'm grateful to be alive, so and then statistic.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Yeah, fast forward now. Um you're now an adult, um, you're engaged, um, you know, there's a lot of things going on that is going well for you, and then you have a stroke.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:10

Before we touch

Stress Work Burnout And Returning To God

SPEAKER_01 8:12

on the stroke, how would you describe your relationship with Yahweh before the stroke happened?

SPEAKER_00 8:17

It wasn't the best. And in the back of my mind, I always knew that I had to get back. And I will tell you the story about that. I used to be a car delivery driver for a manufacturer. Um, the job wasn't paying that much. You know, I would do 50 hours a week for like 10 pounds an hour. It was very stressful. The manager kept, it was it was Michael's you know, my.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

So I have to pause you. Did you say you were doing 50 hours a week? Wow.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Yeah, man. Um the pay wasn't great. It was like 10 pounds an hour. And put it this way when I do a job, I always want to know the like the ins and out of it, even though I'm only doing a specific part of that job in a company. So me delivering cars and being the driver for the sales team, I thought let me learn about this product so that if customer when customers come in and they ask questions, they can at least get the basic information before they go to a salesman. So I've actually sold cars without actually being a salesman or getting any benefits from it. Just because I'm gonna have a job. So I would do that and I would ask for a pay rise, and the manager would be very difficult saying that, well, the um what do you call it, the the the nation's pay for this kind of job is this we're not gonna pay by paying my money. I've been so good where I've delivered a car to a customer, and the customer has named their car after me.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Oh wow, okay.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Um so they got to a point where I managed to save up for a ring from my well from ex-fiance because we're not together anymore. So what I had to do was I literally ate noodles for six months. Wow. To save up for this ring. So I did that, planned the surprise um proposal, rented a car, whatever, but then so did the proposal. Now I'm engaged, got back to work. But this job was it was very stressful, CeCe.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Yeah, you're doing 50 hours a weekend, you're eating noodles. Crazy.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Yeah, it's bad. I couldn't sleep, and it was that bad way. I just I was purposely going to work late because I didn't want to be there.

SPEAKER_02 10:26

Okay, I know that's getting him.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

The manager would jump in my face sometimes, pull me to his office for meetings that was unsanctioned, threatened me, being fired, those kind of things, a lot of micro management, those kind of things there. And I kept asking her, I said, God, what's going on, man? Like, I need to I need to I need to move before I do something. So um my friend used to work there, the salesman, we kept in contact, so he started driving trucks. So I was talking to Bonnie saying, saying, Bro, I need to leave, man. He said, Bruv, I got an opportunity for you. Like um, the country right now is doing where they were down the lorry drivers, yeah, company got paying for people to learn. So he had a link, so I managed to get into that company, got my truck license, and I managed to get a job at his at his firm as well, not too long after, which was amazing. So the money was okay, for argument's sake, let's say I was on 19.5 doing car delivery, doing a truck drive, I got double that for the same hours.

SPEAKER_02 11:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:20

So things are looking good. We were saving up for the wedding, managed to pay for the wedding completely, and one particular week before the stroke, about two weeks or so before, so you know what, Dean? I said I said, God, you know what I need to get back to you. So I started my devotions, I listened to my gospel, I'm going to work as an abashman or soak or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:38

And then let's say two weeks, three weeks into it. No, not really not two weeks, three weeks. A couple months in, the wedding is being paid for and making good money. I'm thinking, yeah, life is good. You know, trying to get back to

Symptoms Dismissed By Doctors

SPEAKER_00 11:49

God and stuff. Then one week I just started jumping up my sleep, couldn't breathe. And my mum said, Devin, something is not right on your chest. And my foot started to swell up from my ankle to my knees. I was still working, so basically I was delivering milk for a company.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

And the milk cages were weigh about 200 kg each, so it wasn't light work. So I was still going to work.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

With the swelling.

SPEAKER_00 12:10

With the swelling, yeah, because I thought it was just a summer heat.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

So I thought, okay. But then I kept not being able to sleep, jump out of my sleep, gasping for air. So one Sunday I said, you know what? I fell asleep waiting for a Tesco to open. And I fell asleep on the side of the row in the truck. And I jumped out of my sleep. Once again, couldn't breathe. So I said, you know what? I don't feel right. I'm gonna take the truck back. And bear in mind, I'm driving a 28-ton truck here. It's not a small truck. So I said, before anything happens, let me take the truck back. I called based, took the truck back, that was a Sunday, so then Monday I went to the GP. They said, Oh, you got high blood pressure. It was something like ridiculous, like 280 something for argument's sake, over like 200, which was way over. Your blood pressure meant to be 120 over 80. Wow. So they gave me medication as usual. I went home, still couldn't sleep. I fell asleep for like 30 seconds, jump out of my sleep, got me for breath, like wheezing. Wow. So went GP again, I said something.

SPEAKER_01 13:12

Were you having headaches as well? Because you're not sleeping.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

No, no headaches, no, that's the thing. So went GP again, second time. I told them what's going on. I said, look at my feet, my feet are swollen. And to this point, like they were like balloons. So they tried to get bloods, couldn't get bloods, and they sent me home again with more medication. So the third time I went, they said, you know what, that one, go A. Well, come on A, no shame. Go A E. So I went to A and E. Um, but in mind, I'm driving myself to A and E as well, you know.

SPEAKER_02 13:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 13:39

I drove there and they sent me from the A and E side to the GP section, and the nurse, the doctor said, um, oh, it's chest infection, gave me antibiotics, send me home.

SPEAKER_01 13:51

So bear in mind No checks about your legs, no blood.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

I showed him the legs everything. Told him what's going on. She said, Oh, it's chest infection, gave me antibiotics, send me home. Yeah, so my mum works nights, so it couldn't be bad. So I called my ex's brother-in-law, who's an A doctor. I told him what's going on. Oh, sorry, sorry, before that, I diagnosed before that. I went GP again. I told the doctor what's going on. He's telling me what's wrong with me. He said, Oh, you got asthma. Gave me asthma pumps and home. Yeah. But he's talking about the swelling of the leg. I showed him everything. Showed him the legs, tell him I can't sleep, this and that. He said, Oh, you got asthma. Asthma pump sent me home. I said, Lord, what's going on, man? So anyways, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Bearing in mind, you only have the shortness of breath when you sleep and then you wake up throughout the day. You don't have like your chest is not tight, you're not coughing, you're not having shortness of breath. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

But literally, I fall asleep for like 30 seconds and jump up and sleep straight away. So I called my my ex's brother-in-law. I told him what's going on. He said, D, go back to A and E straight away. He said, You don't know, wait, go tomorrow morning between 6 and 8. That's when they have changeover. So there's no hands on deck. So my mom took me to A and E. We were there for a good 15 hours before we got

Collapse Stroke And Lost Time

SPEAKER_00 15:00

seen. Wow. And this is in Harlow, right? There was a nurse tried to kick a nurse, a male nurse tried to kick us out of the AE section.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

Like the triage.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

She didn't think I was severe enough. To the point where he made him cry. That got me vexed.

SPEAKER_02 15:15

Oh wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

A doctor came to me. They first said, Oh, you've got um kidney failure. So I was like, oh god, okay. Then I re all I remember from that after that conversation was being wheeled in a wheelchair somewhere. The next thing I knew, I woke up in Queen's hospital, like three weeks after. So that from that from that being in a wheelchair to Queens, I don't remember anything.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

But the thing is, I didn't I didn't I didn't just wake up. I was fighting. When I was in a coma, I was fighting, I was fighting wars, I was fighting monsters, I was fighting demons.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

Just just for the the viewers, the listeners, I should say. Um it's not you you went into a coma. It wasn't an induced coma. When you was in hospital, you went into a coma.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

So when I was in Harle hospital, they said I had a stroke at four o'clock in the morning. Okay. Then but they were dilly-dallying until they called Queens and told him the symptoms. And Queen said blue light him straight away. That's when I went to Queens. But the funniest thing is that I remember saying to them, no one touch me. But I was like kind of in a haze. I didn't know what was going on. So I said, No one touch me until my family couldn't praise on me. I definitely remember that. Anything after that? I don't remember. Wow. Yeah, so um, yeah. That's that's up to that point. Any more questions? There's more about it, but are you more questions from you before I go on?

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Or well you spoke about so you went you you had the stroke when you was in hospital, it sent you into um a coma. It it's so shocked that you're in a western world.

SPEAKER_03 16:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

And um, what is surprising to me and it's more alarming, is that men don't like going to the hospital GPs, and then seeing the fact that you were taking your health seriously, yeah, and you was let down not once, not twice, not three times, not only from your GP, but from the hospital as well. So we give praises to Yahweh that you was just persistent because many you could have just gave up and thought, you know what? Like, yeah, let me just take the asthma pump and the pills and continue life, but you pushed through.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

That's the thing that's I tried the what they gave me, but it just didn't work. So that's when I realized something was wrong. But um,

Surgeries Survival Odds And Prayer

SPEAKER_00 17:28

yeah, so um from what I've been told from what from my family is that so I had to have three emergency brain operations in in five days. Wow. So they gave me, I think I think from what I recall the told my family, we're gonna give me an injection, like a blood thinner, because apparently I had a blood clot. I had a blood clut the size of a fist over my heart. So um, and that peeled off and hit the right side of my brain. So from our from what my family said to me is that they said they were gonna give me an injection. It's either I'm gonna bleed from the nose or my brain's gonna swell. Guess which one I got?

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

So I got that, so they had to cut my skull open so my brain can breathe and expand. Wow. Otherwise, I would have had brain damage, so I kept going in and out of surgery because of complications. And um, they told my family I had a 5% chance of survival. So I was paralyzed on my left side, and they said if he if he survives, he'll be a vegetable. All I can say is thank God for praying family, yeah. So what I'm telling you is not in the actual timeline, it's like Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so my family had a prayer meeting and my brother literally had a vision. It sounds weird, but he basically had an out-of-body experience. So his boy's parent left home, came to the hospital, and he said that he saw a white bright light cover me from head to toe, and then it bounced off of me, covered him, and covered my other brother. Then he woke back up in the prayer meeting. So after the prayer meeting, remember I had a blood clot over my heart, right? After the prayer meeting, they couldn't find a clot nowhere. They did it all kind of tests. Wow. Clock was gone.

SPEAKER_01 19:14

Well, two or three are gathered here.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

Listen. So meanwhile, this is going on outside. I'm fighting for my life in the coma.

SPEAKER_03 19:23

Yeah.

Coma Battles Visions And Fear

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Literally. So yeah, I've had stuff where I was underwater in a submarine fighting to try and escape. Where I saw my nieces, that had there was a war where all the little children were fighting. It was a weird, weird. My niece was in there fighting, she was a soldier. Um, but this encounter that I had where I met this this old and mature gentleman, he kind of looked Middle Eastern. And I every time I tell the story, people laugh at me. But I'm dead serious. He gave me a horse, a white horse. See, but this horse was it was it's like it was coded to my emotions.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

The horse would turn into a boat, a yacht, a plane, and a car. Whenever I needed it to. But whatever the situation needed, demanded.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

So there was one time I felt like they were trying to kill me when I was in the hospital in the coma. Wow. And I sent the yacht to get my dad. But what came back was a demon. I see. And I kept going back and forth fighting this demon. And the same guy that bought sold me the horse or gave me the horse, he had a grandchild and like two or three older sons, and this demon was a pirate. He called him a pirate. And one day he the older gentleman's grandson was playing with his blue ruby type gem, like a big diamond, but it was blue. And the um the pirate slash demon stole it from the kid, and the kid rather told his dad. The dad said, You will never live to see that, to use that. And he literally all lived in front of me, the demon. So yeah, that's one part of it.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

That's crazy, because they always say, like, um, my one of my family members was in an induced coma, and sometimes you see their hands and their feet moving, and you always wonder, like, what is going on? Something is going on, like obviously, to in the medical world, it's like, oh, nothing is going on. But it's like something clearly something's going on because they're moving, they're moving their fingers. It's just that they can't, like, their brain is still active. Yeah, that's crazy. So, fast forward to when you wake up, you're wearing more, you know.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Sorry, there's more.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

So there's one part where I took the plane to this waterfall, and C C when I tell you that water I drank, water today doesn't taste the same. Water now in the real world, it's disgusting. When I drank that water, I just felt like I was being healed. Like it's it's it's so I can't even explain it. In the cold. My brother was meant to have a traditional wedding. The wedding happened in the coma. But it did happen, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 22:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:08

And like I was just I was just about to get married, so I didn't get married, but it did happen as well in the coma. But yeah, so and I'm I'm a millionaire in the coma as well, basically. So when I woke up, I'm telling nurses, yeah, I'm gonna when I'm for my recovery, I'm gonna need looking after. So can I pay you 40,000 final year? And they were looking at me like, who's this guy, man? What are you talking about? But in my mind.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

Is this in the coma or reality?

SPEAKER_00 22:29

This is reality. Now I woke up.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

Oh, okay, okay, okay.

Waking Up Confusion And Recovery

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Like, how how was that if you can remember, like when you opened your eyes and you were in bed?

SPEAKER_00 22:37

They said, Oh, what's your name? Stop blasting me a question. What's your name? How old are you? Do you know where you are? You knew the queen is dead. I was like, What do you mean the queen is dead, bruv? Because obviously, like when I went when I was in in a coma, well, before I went in the coma, I knew she was alive.

SPEAKER_02 22:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:48

Yes, I was like, what's going on, man? So, yeah, so they explained stuff to me. They said, Oh, you're at Queen's Hospital, and um this happened to you. So basically, I was the most critical and neurocritical. Yeah, so they had to induce the coma, me in a coma for two weeks. Then I came out of the coma. Then I caught an infection, then they put me an ice blanket for another week.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

So yeah, it was um it was very Y has been holding you, like literally.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

Holding you. So yeah, um, so yeah, so basically just about two and a half weeks I was in induced coma on life support as well, basically. Because I had to choose how much froat, my throat. Yeah, yeah, life support, and they said I was the most critical there. So, anyways, yeah, so I woke up, I saw my family, I decided barling. Like you got the fruff in your mouth, the fruff in your mouth. Yeah, yeah. Because I didn't want to go back to sleep to fight again.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

So my cousin came over from Canada because she was meant to go to the wedding. And when so my brother said, Oh, she's gonna come back tomorrow, she wanted to buy. When she spoke, CC, that was not my cousin. So I've always learned that if you don't recognize the voice, don't answer it.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

So I didn't answer it.

SPEAKER_01 24:02

So I saw back home, you know. My mum always tells me that.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

It's true, because you can sign confidence without realizing that.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

So I said, No, I'm not even gonna answer. So then I can see my family, but I can see a silhouette of them, silhouette of them. I knew with them.

SPEAKER_01 24:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:19

Then we're back to sleep for like another week or so.

SPEAKER_01 24:22

So your vision is kind of off.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

In a sense, yeah. So the better man, I'm just coming out of a coma for two from two and a half weeks, so my own clothes and stuff, so yeah. So um yeah. So I went from being um what's the word? Independent to having people have to feed me through a drip and to not having control of my my bowels and stuff or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

Was he still paralysed on one side?

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Sorry?

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Was he still paralyzed on one side?

SPEAKER_00 24:53

No, for some reason I could be my arms and legs. Amen. Yeah, but I just couldn't walk. I had to relearn to walk, I had to relearn to talk, I didn't really know how to swallow, I had to relearn to eat, I had to be learned to speak.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

Yeah, I was I was being I had to be cleaned and all kind of bandits. It was very degrading, very degrading. I didn't know what was happening to me or why why it happened to me. At first I would ask, like God, why did this happen to me? Yeah, but even though when I woke up, I still didn't know to the extent. So my ex and sister, one day they came and told me everything that happened. She even managed to get Devin Franklin to pray for me.

SPEAKER_02 25:28

Oh wow, that's big.

SPEAKER_00 25:29

Yeah. Okay. So um I'm grateful to God, man.

SPEAKER_01 25:34

And um Yeah, I'm in shock. Like hearing the full testimony, it's like we serve a mighty saviour that we don't even realize. We don't realize the depth of who he is. Yeah, we do not really realize that we like he is our maker. Like, wow, wow.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

So then the thing is, you could be upset. I was a very I was very upset because when I saw what I looked like, because obviously they cut my skull.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

A quarter of my quarter of my skull was missing.

SPEAKER_02 26:07

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

All I could do was cry, you know. So yeah. So that was that. Um when after like when I started to realise the details of what happened, so basically when I was driving the trucks, I would start work at 3:30 in the morning, get my truck keys, do my checks. So by say called it four o'clock, ten to four, I'm on the road, going to my first truck. The stroke up at four o'clock in the morning, if you get what I'm trying to say.

SPEAKER_02 26:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

So if I wasn't in hospital, I couldn't be driving a truck, I could have crashed, I could have killed myself, I could have killed somebody. So the way I look at it is that everything happened for a reason.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

So when I once I realized that I couldn't be that upset anymore because it could be a lot worse.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

That the Holy Spirit was protecting you.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

He was, man, he was. Wow. Even when I was in the coma, I think that guy had to be. And there was one point where I was suspended in water trying to swim up, but there was a light. And every time I tried to stretch for the light, it kept going back up. It would never let me catch it. Yeah, so there's a lot, there's a lot happening. A lot.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

How long was your um rehabilitation period?

SPEAKER_00 27:10

So when I woke up from the coma, I didn't sleep for three three weeks straight. Because I was scared. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 27:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

So my family would come and see me from ten o'clock in the morning till four. And I wouldn't sleep from four till the next morning for three weeks straight. I'd watch the clock.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

Because I was I would be I was scared that I wouldn't wake up again.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

So I was in hospital for about three months, and this is another reason why I said God is amazing, right? Because when man says this, God said that this is my timeline. So they told they told my family I'd be in hospital from six for six months to a year.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Amen. They also said that you'll be a vegetable state. Yes. If you wake up, you just move in your hands and limbs, like, wow.

SPEAKER_00 27:52

I can still time my shoelaces and everything. Um also I went to

Rehab Timeline And Mental Aftershocks

SPEAKER_00 27:56

rehab. They said it was meant to be six weeks. I was out in four. Amen. So I've got to give God uh glory. I'm gonna give him the glory because if you didn't give me the short, I could have given up easily, easily.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

When you when you are back to feeling somewhat like yourself, how do you think the stroke impacted your mental and emotional well-being?

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Emotional well-being, it was it was very difficult to come to terms with what happened because I felt like I was a guinea pig. Every minute, oh blood, oh ups, you know, um appointments and this and that tests, it felt like it was non-stop. It at one point it made me very how can I put it, aggressive.

SPEAKER_02 28:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

So because when I was when I when they took the tubes out of my mouth, my throat, they tried to give me a was it triactomy, you know, they put a hole in your throat to make you speak.

SPEAKER_01 28:44

Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

So they said the Saturday, they said the Friday they said if he doesn't speak by Saturday, Sunday we're gonna do the operation. I started speaking on the Saturday of my own accord, but it was very, like, very low, like a mouse club, very quiet.

SPEAKER_02 28:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:58

So when I started to speak, it made me very jumpy, like it sounded like I was being very aggressive, but it was just me trying to speak clearer.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Trying to get the words out, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

I'm actually a very soft-spoken person, anyways. But yeah, it did make me feel kind of like aggressive, but emotionally and mentally, that was that was disheartening for me because like when I'm talking about my family or my ex. If I lash out, it wasn't that I was being disrespectful or rude. They say that stroke changes your behaviour. Yeah, so that was very hard for me to come to terms with doing that to them, the people that I love and support. Um, excuse me. Support for the family, 100%. There's certain parts that I won't go into.

SPEAKER_03 29:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:40

Um, but support was there, and I would say that played a massive part in my rehabilitation because the more I saw them, the more I wanted to push myself to get out. So um set prayers were there. I can't I can't know that the prayers were definitely there, I can't know that at all. Um I had people praying for me from South Africa, I had atheists praying for me and all that as well. Catholic people in Jamaica, Barbados, St. Vincent, America, all over the world, people praying for me.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

Yeah. I remember when I got the text and I was like, wow, and um started praying because you just don't know, like you know, like when the Bible says that we should live each day as our last.

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

Um we literally take each day for granted, like we do, because when people say here today, gone tomorrow, like I think we we know these sayings, but we don't actually deep it.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

Yeah, 100%. And all of that made me realize that life is for living, no matter what you're going through. Yeah, no matter what your finances are, life is for living. Create memories with your loved ones, 100%, you know, and from that day, every time I see my brothers, I tell them I love them. But you can't, yeah, you can't like I was like, you know, like you know, good job, you know, fiance, everything got taken away. Everything got taken away. That wasn't easy.

SPEAKER_01 31:03

How was that for you? Especially, I don't know if you want to talk about it, like briefly knowing that you know had the wedding paid for, everything, like as you said, that the the moment you gave your life to Yahweh, things just went left, and then now you're re you're you finished your rehabilitation, obviously you're still pushing through because it's not like it just happens just like that. And as you're saying that you started to lose things, like how was that? Did your relationship with y'all lessen, or did it

Relationship Breakdown And Provider Pressure

SPEAKER_01 31:34

strengthen to know, like, wow, I'm losing the person that I thought I was gonna get married to, or you know, that the license being suspended because of what has happened. Like, what was that part like? Did you question Yah for that, or you know what's a question?

SPEAKER_00 31:48

It was just a a thing of um so first of all, we moved in together, and this is the thing in hospital. I told her, I said you can leave me because I know this wouldn't be easy for you, because she had all the struggles as well. I didn't want to be a burden. So I said to her, you can leave me. And she said no, I'm sticking by you. But this may sound a bit bad, but I knew unfortunately, and that's from seven years of experience. Yeah, um, I said, take your mums or your parents, let's save up some money so we can buy a house together. Basically, my hand was forced to move out after it's just coming out of rehabilitation. So we're now living together, and it just went downhill. And we had a we had an argument. I said something I shouldn't have. I apologize for that. I owned up to that, but um I as a man from what I used to do to now not being able to do anything to provide for my future family, yeah, that wasn't easy. So I was trying all which way to try and provide.

SPEAKER_02 32:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

I said, let's let me try and sign up to the council to try and get a property. Because rent wasn't cheap. We were just needing money, and I wasn't working, and I didn't want to put all that on top of her, that'd be too much pressure for her.

SPEAKER_02 32:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:58

Not saying that she wasn't capable, but but I just knew based on how she was. Um still very grateful for everything that she did for me. And I'll be forever grateful. So I tried to get a property, put myself on the ladder, and yeah, we had an argument over that to the point where things were said on both sides. And I was in the living room, and she walked in and something was slammed on the table. I didn't know what it was. I stood up to see what it was, and it was the engagement ring. So that broke my heart. Uh but yeah, so yeah, that was that. And well, that was the only way I could I could see us getting somewhere where having to spend $1800 upon a month where I'm not working. And that's gonna be a majority of her monthly salary, which would didn't make sense to me.

SPEAKER_01 33:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

So yeah, that's when the relationship ended.

SPEAKER_01 33:50

What would you say was the hardest part of adjusting to life after your stroke?

SPEAKER_00 33:54

Not feeling like I wasn't uh capable of doing things because everything had to be done for me, tying my shoelaces, sometimes even showering me, up to up to a point cooking for me, and I'm the kind of person I've always I've always done stuff for myself. I don't bother people to help me.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:12

So I have to rely on people. It wasn't easy.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

And did you have days like or weeks where like two weeks you were good and then like you would have like a little, not like a massive fallback, but whereas your body is trying to strengthen your muscles and everything? Did you ever give yourself grace during like your recovering period?

SPEAKER_00 34:31

Um, grace, grace. Um, I'm not sure to be honest with you. Because even though I'm still trying to process what happened, so I'm not really sure. Oh yeah, yeah, not really sure.

SPEAKER_01 34:40

How has your relationship with Yahweh changed since

Faith Lessons Encouragement And Closing Prayer

SPEAKER_01 34:43

the stroke?

SPEAKER_00 34:43

I will say that I've gotten closer to him. When I woke up from the coma and they told me what happened, that's all I can think about. Like thanking God. And one day I went back to the hospital for an appointment, and my mum took me walking past the room I went in when I came near the blue lights on the ambulance. This massive weight that's lifted off my shoulders. Because when I looked in the room, I said, you know what? That couldn't be me. I could have never come out of that room alive basically. And one day I was walking and I saw a funeral procession. I stopped and started to cry because I said, you know what? Lord thank you, because that couldn't be me. The main thing is that all I can think about is my brothers and my family to see me in that state.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

That must not have been easy for them.

SPEAKER_01 35:33

As we're coming there to the end, what lessons have you learned about trust, faith, and surrendering your all through your experience?

SPEAKER_00 35:43

Um, trust is that even though we think we're going through the worst, God is God is a man, God is always God is always doing something in the background. We may not see it, we may not understand it, but he's always always moving. He's never still. The faith is that in this situation, whatever I do, I do to honor God. The way I do it is that it's to show my family and friends that just because of what I've been through, it doesn't make me illiterate, it doesn't make me what's the what's the term? It doesn't mean that I can't do anything.

SPEAKER_02 36:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:12

So every day I'm a proof and proof that God did it, basically.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

Amen.

SPEAKER_00 36:16

So whatever I do, I put my own into it to show people that because of what happened to me, I can still do this, I can still do that. So no matter what you're going through, just keep the faith, keep pushing on, and God will be with you. And surrender? Oh yeah, I'm sorry to solve it to him, yeah, definitely. 100% I had to. There's no way that he brought me back from that and I could still live there. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm still tested by certain things I was struggling before that, but I have a bit I have a deeper understanding of that. Or more push that I want to stop doing the things I used to do being second, basically. Now say I'm not the same man that I was before the combat, definitely. Spiritually, physically, mentally.

SPEAKER_01 36:55

Amen. And what would you say? My last question is, what would you say to someone who is going through a health crisis and is struggling with their health, their faith, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 37:07

With their faith.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

I'll repeat the question again. What would you say to someone who is struggling through a health crisis and is struggling with their faith?

SPEAKER_00 37:15

I would say it's not the be all and all and end all, there is still life. You can still live if you choose to live and choose to understand that it is not by our power or by our might that we're alive or that we're surviving. It's by God's power and by God's might. And I think once we come to an understanding that even when things happen to us, it's for a reason and everything is to glorify God. So even your situation might seem dreary, everything is to glorify God. It sounds selfish, but it's not, because at the end of the day, he died for us. So if you can use your situation to glorify him and to beg him up, do it.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

I think that was the second part to your question, um, if they're struggling with their faith, so whatever they're going through, that it's a health issue, especially like to somebody who probably, as you said, is in a situation here um they was able to walk and now they can't, like, how what what what would you give them to keep their faith and their relationship strong with the Lord?

SPEAKER_00 38:14

The way I saw this that happened to me is that um and I also to them is that, and I never understood this text until now, God doesn't give you more than you can bear. The verse that I can't remember the actual verse, but what Job said is that though he slay me, I will trust him. So even though that you know this is going through, like there must have been a conversation about you, and God must have said, you know what? No, like he's strong, she she is strong, they can deal, they can handle it. So do your worst, but you can't kill them. That's the way I look at my situation. There must have been a conversation about me between God and you know that's Job 13, 15.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

It says, Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him, but I will maintain my own ways before him.

SPEAKER_00 39:00

Amen. And also, every time I went back to the hospital for an appointment, I went to see those who helped me, the nurses of the nurses. I shook their hands, I hugged them because it's not easy for it's not it's not an easy job what they do. They don't get enough gratitude. So one of the physiotherapists she started crying when she saw me walking by myself. Um one of the rooms I was staying in, as I was walking past it, one of the nurses, one of the girls who used to clean me, said basically, you see him, he used to be in this room and look at him now. You can be there if you never got give up, basically. So you know, I hope that was some kind of motivation for him.

SPEAKER_01 39:46

Wow, wow, thank you, Dee. Let me say a prayer for those who are struggling, but thank you for your vulnerability. We give praises and thanks to Yahweh for holding you, bringing you through, keeping you safe from having from the stroke at 4 a.m. Like that there wasn't a car crash. And as you say, like it's about being thankful every day because you know we have to just give thanks. Dear Heavenly Father, we just want to thank you for our interview today. And Lord, I want to pray for the people who are struggling with their health, whether it be mental, physically, or emotional. Be with them, Father. I pray that this may touch them to know that what they're going through, that there will be light at the end of the tunnel. Because in your words, it says that you will never leave us nor forsake us. And many of us don't actually understand what that means, but may we cling on to it. And whenever Satan may send us targets or things our way or challenges, Lord, I pray that it be rebuked and that we may be able to stay on the focus line and know that you are our King. You sent your one and only Son Jesus to die for us.

SPEAKER_03 40:53

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 40:53

And we just want to just say thank you. Thank you for being with us, thank you for keeping us. Um, Lord, I pray that in these times that we all may have patience um with people that are struggling with things because sometimes we don't understand, and sometimes they're just trying to just help us to understand.

SPEAKER_03 41:11

Yes, Lord.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

And I just pray with those who are people who are carers that are helping people, family and friends who are carers or guardians to people as well, that could be struggling with a physical or mental health that you may be with them and be with the people that they are caring for because it's not easy, but Lord, as Dee said, you wouldn't give us more than what we can bear, as it's in your word. Sometimes we feel that the pain is too much or what we're dealing through is too much, but we know that we cannot do it in our strength. So we have to rely on you. So Lord, I pray that we remove self and may we fully depend on you that when we feel that it is too much, that we remember that it's not through our might nor power, but it's everything through you. So Lord, I pray that we would remove self and get on our knees and pray to you that you'll be able to help us get through what we need to get through to be able to help one another, Lord. If there's anything stopping me from this prayer being answered, I pray that it be removed. These things are asked and pray in your name. Amen. And I'll see you guys in the next two weeks. If you enjoyed this episode, please do share to your friends and loved ones and to people that might need to hear this word. And if you have a question or scenario, then please send it to our email address at unfiltered Christianumber1 at gmail.com. Thank you for always listening and thank you for your support.