'My contraceptive pill caused a stroke at 17 - I couldn't walk or talk'

Lauren Jean had to learn to walk and talk again after her contraceptive pill caused a stroke when she was just 17-years-old

A young woman had a stroke at just 17-years-old due to complications with her contraceptive pill. Lauren Jean became unwell while on holiday and was left unable to walk or talk.

She was on holiday in Spain when she woke up in the night to go to the toilet and found her entire right side was numb. She tried to get out of bed and fell - with the thud alerting her parents, who called an ambulance.

Lauren, from Clitheroe, Lancashire, was unable to speak or move as she was then air lifted to Hospital Universitario Torrecárdenas, Almeria, for emergency surgery. The surgery revealed she had developed a blood clot which had travelled to her brain and caused a stroke.

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According to her doctors, Lauren's clot was caused by her combined contraceptive pill. Heart scans later showed the teen had been born with a hole in her heart - which the clot had passed through and up to her brain.

The stroke left Lauren unable to walk or talk and she spent months having physiotherapy to regain those functions. She also had a surgery to repair the hole in her heart - and two years on she is unrecognisable as she trains for the 2025 London Marathon.

Lauren, now 20, a singer-songwriter, said: "On the day I had my stroke, my parents were told the chances of me surviving were slim to none. I remember I couldn't move or speak and I was being wheeled into emergency surgery - I had no idea what was going on.

"When I found out it was because I developed a blood clot and had a heart defect, I thought my life would never be the same again. After my surgeries I had to learn how to walk again - it was hard but they couldn't stop me trying.

"I didn't want to sit down until I could walk again - then I applied for the London Marathon. Now I'm training and stronger than I was before - you'd never know I had a stroke two years ago."

Lauren had been taking the combined contraceptive pill since the age of 13 to control heavy periods. She was aware of the slight risks of blood clots associated with the pill - but never imagined it would affect her - until August 12, 2022 when she woke up in the night unable to feel her right side.

Lauren added: "I kept blacking out and I couldn't ask any questions - I feared for my life. I was wheeled into a room full of people for surgery - I couldn't ask what surgery I was having though. It could have been brain surgery, heart surgery or to chop my leg off for all I knew."

She underwent brain surgery lasting several hours where doctors found a blood clot which had caused her stroke. Lauren said: "When I was told I'd had a stroke I couldn't believe it - I said 'what, you mean sunstroke?'"

After days on the intensive care ward, unable to walk, talk, or even use the toilet on her own, she was taken for a heart scan. Doctors spotted a hole in her heart - a patent foramen ovale (PFO) - and Lauren begged to fly back to the UK before having further treatment.

Back in the UK, doctors explained the reason for her blood clot had been - her contraceptive pill. She added: "They told me the clot would have started in my leg, and normally it would have disintegrated on its own. But because I have this hole in my heart, it had slipped through and gone into my brain, causing my stroke."

She began a physiotherapy course at Royal Blackburn Hospital to regain movement, and it took her six weeks to walk again. In July 2023 she had heart surgery where a device was implanted to close the hole - after which she decided she wanted to take on a challenge.

On August 12, 2024 - two years to the day since her stroke - she got a call being accepted for the 2025 London Marathon, supporting the British Heart Foundation. Lauren is now hitting the gym six days a week and runs 40km a week to train - and says she is stronger and healthier than she was before.

She said: "I'm still training my right side to be stronger but I'm back to my normal self. Apart from being left with a twitch in my finger, you'd never know I nearly died. I couldn't play piano, guitar or sing after, but I'm getting it back and I have started performing again."

Now Lauren wants to raise awareness of strokes in young people. She added: "I had severe headaches and tingling on one side of my body before my stroke - get any symptoms checked out.

"When I was told I had a stroke, I though 'surely not, I'm only 17.' I kept saying to my mum 'this can't be right'. I always thought it wouldn't happen to me - but it can. Strokes can affect anyone."