Mum, 37, who collapsed watching TV wakes up 10 days later unable to remember her birthday

A mum has revealed how she was left unable to look after her child when she had a stroke just weeks after giving birth. Charlotte Coulbert had been watching TV with her husband and children on June 14, 2022, when she collapsed.

The 37-year-old had a stroke in the ambulance called for her due to a blood clot blocking her brain’s blood supply – later learning the clot was caused by a hole in her heart, which she did not know she had.

Charlotte, from Stramshall, Staffordshire, was rushed to the Royal Stoke University Hospital, where she woke up ten days later after being placed in an induced coma. When she woke she had paralysis on her right side and aphasia, a communication disorder that can also have an impact on memory.

READ MORE: 'I thought I had just pulled a muscle in my back playing golf... what doctors found horrified me'

After waking from the coma, Charlotte spent three weeks relearning her date of birth and it would be six months before she was able to walk a few steps. However through speech work and physiotherapy, alongside help from her husband Chay, an army veteran who lost a leg in Afghanistan in 2012, Charlotte has steadily regained her strength.

Now, Charlotte's speech has improved and she walks with stick. The mum-of-three has hopes to return to her career in sales.

Speaking to PA Real Life, Charlotte said: “It was heartbreaking, really, as a mother, not being able to support your newborn. I feel like I was a burden, my husband had to do everything… he had to source a nanny because he couldn’t look after all three kids and work, and pay for that.

“So it’s been very tough, but now I can help a little bit, I can cook basic meals, load the dishwasher, and do some washing. I’m slowly getting back into family life, but it’s so hard because I went from being a mummy doing the school run to not being able to do it all of a sudden.”

Recalling the day of the stroke, she said: “I shouted for my husband. He called an ambulance straight away, but I was going in and out of consciousness.

“I remember seeing him, and then the paramedics, but it’s all very blurry. It was terrifying; I was struggling to breathe, and the paramedics kept telling me, ‘Charlotte, you have to breathe,’ until I zoned out completely.”

Only weeks earlier Charlotte had given birth to her daughter Verity via a planned C-section. She said: “When I woke up and could just see Verity, it was surreal, she’d grown even in that time.

“I attempted to feed her with a bottle, but I was so weak I couldn’t really do it. It was very difficult for me, strange – I couldn’t believe it really happened; I was still in shock.”

The stroke had a huge impact on Charlotte's speech and communication. She said: “I would just give people one-word answers when someone asked me a question because I couldn’t think how to construct a sentence.

“I knew in my head what I wanted to say, but it didn’t come out of my mouth.”

Since the stroke Charlotte, who has three children, Jaxon, six, Theo, four, and Verity, two, has made big improvements, but stresses that recovery is an ongoing process. She said: “I can’t move individual fingers on my right side, but I can grip things.

“People don’t realise it’s an ongoing thing – recovery for a stroke is for life. I have to do stretches every morning because my muscles tense up.”

On February 19, 2024, Charlotte had a procedure to close the hole in her heart. This patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure would reduce the risk of her having another stroke.

The mum-of-three also remained employed throughout her recovery, and hopes to return to work as soon as possible. She shared how her husband Chay, 36, had used his own experience of losing his leg to help her.

“He stood on a detonation device and lost his leg, he has helped me overcome these challenges and reassured me that it does get better,” she said. “I have good and bad days; looking back, when I was in hospital, I was depressed and didn’t care who came to see me, it was so hard mentally.”

Charlotte revealed that her experience has helped her to realise what is truly important. She said: “I think in life you just have to do what makes you happy."

The 37-year-old also stressed that people should be aware of the signs of a stroke, even if they don't think they're at risk. She said: “I think people also need to be more aware of the signs of a stroke and understand it does not just happen to elderly people.”