Inspired to Donate: The Stroke Association’s Recovery Garden

Stroke survivor and garden designer Miria Harris has teamed up with UK charity Stroke Association to bring the Stroke Association Recovery Garden to life at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

Having designed a peaceful, sensory space to support stroke recovery, “the Stroke Association’s Garden for Recovery aims to elevate the association’s cause and its vision of a world where everyone has a chance to survive has a stroke and gets the support he needs. not just living to survive, but being able to live life again,” says Harris.

Touched by their shared experiences and the dedication Harris continues to show in supporting the stroke survivor community, Sarah Kilgariff, Director of Topsoil and More, was inspired to contribute to the project.

“We just wanted to give something back and get involved because the Stroke Association has helped us so much,” says Kilgariff.

At just four years old, Kilgariff’s son Freddie was rushed to hospital after suffering a stroke caused by the common chickenpox virus that entered his spinal fluid. “Somehow the chickenpox virus passed into his brain and into the brain fluid, which caused the blood vessels to become restricted and blood flow to be blocked, which then caused an accident cerebrovascular.” Said Kilgariff.

Initially completely paralyzed on his left side, Freddie lost the ability to move, eat and swallow.

A year later, life is no longer the same for the family.

“We’re just working on how to turn the very negative into some sort of positive,” Kilgariff says. “If you dwell too much on the bad, you’ll end up in a black hole, so we really try to focus on the positive.”

Harris and Kilgariff then began their discussions, planning logistics and potential donations, ending with an agreement that Topsoil and More should donate the soil and compost for the garden during their stay in Chelsea and for its move to the he stroke unit at Chapel Allerton Hospital in Leeds. .

Kilgariff says his discovery of the garden was “by chance.” “I saw a post on social media that there would be a Stroke Association garden at RHS Chelsea, and I felt compelled to email the garden designer and ask if we could we get involved in any way, even if only to make a donation. ground.”

“We really want to raise awareness and bring the idea of ​​a stroke happening at any time to the forefront of people’s minds,” says Kilgariff. “People don’t realize that a stroke can happen to anyone, at any time and regardless of age.”

If the garden can educate at least one person, it could mean another life is saved from the threat of a stroke in the future.

Today, five-year-old Freddie goes to school where, thanks to the Stroke Association, special training has been organized to help teachers learn the signs to look out for and the possible challenges children like Freddie might need help to overcome.

Although the road to recovery is slow, difficult and unpredictable, Freddie is moving in the right direction, and with projects such as Harris’ Stroke Association’s Garden for Recovery represented in Chelsea, it is hoped that stroke awareness will that continue to grow.