Mike Jewell, a 42-year-old carpenter from Barnstaple, experienced a haemorrhagic stroke in September 2025 after a day of pressing apples and drinking cider with friends. He initially dismissed his symptoms as the effects of alcohol, but his condition rapidly deteriorated, leading to a two-week induced coma. Upon waking, he had no memory of his newborn son, Morgan, who was just a few weeks old.
Sudden Onset and Misinterpreted Symptoms
On the day of the stroke, Mike was making cider with friends and had a few drinks. He began falling over, and his friends assumed it was due to alcohol, laying him down to rest. The next morning, he went home and slept for nearly an entire day. When he woke up, he had a severe headache and his wife, Ellie, 38, noticed his speech was slurred and he was not making sense. Ellie immediately contacted their local stroke unit and took him there, before he was blue-lighted to hospital.
“I hadn’t drunk much. It wasn’t as if I was hungover – I was just exhausted and felt weird,” Mike said. Scans confirmed he had suffered a haemorrhagic stroke, caused by bleeding in or around the brain. Doctors believe the stroke occurred when he first began falling over two days earlier.
Emergency Surgery and Induced Coma
Mike was monitored for a week, but his condition worsened and his speech deteriorated. A further scan revealed the bleed had grown, prompting emergency brain surgery to relieve pressure on his brain. He was placed in an induced coma for two weeks to reduce swelling and pressure, with doctors fighting to keep him alive.
“My family were terrified but I can remember my dreams from the coma but that’s about it. They were so weird – I was in hospital fitting windows with (comedian) Romesh Ranganathan and then, as I came out of the coma, I was working in a biscuit factory,” Mike recalled.
Waking to a Forgotten Son
When Mike woke from the coma, he had no recollection of his son Morgan’s birth. “Ellie said, ‘Here’s your son, he’s yours’, and I just said, ‘What?’. I had no recollection of him or him being born. It was so weird. He had completely gone from my mind. I absolutely adore him – he’s brilliant – but at first I just didn’t know what was going on,” he told PA Real Life.
Doctors warned Mike he might never walk again, as his left arm and leg were very weak and he could barely string words together. “I had weakness everywhere. I couldn’t stand up, although I kept trying and I’d end up with my face on the floor. It was just so frustrating,” he said.
Remarkable Recovery in One Week
Determined to defy the odds, Mike used a list of tasks provided by doctors as motivation. His goals included drawing noughts and crosses grids, walking from the ward to the reception desk and back, and making a cup of tea. He also had to relearn how to unlock his phone and use a touchscreen. “I spent three hours just trying to put my fingers together. It was mad, but once I’d learnt it, I could remember how to do it,” he explained.
Within a week, he completed every task and was transferred to his local hospital in Barnstaple before returning home a few days later. He continued working with an occupational therapist and physiotherapist at home. “One of the last things I had to do before my occupational therapist signed me off was cook her a meal. I made cottage pie with all the trimmings – one of my specialities,” Mike said.
Financial Support and Return to Work
Throughout his recovery, Ellie was on maternity leave, and as Mike is self-employed, money was a concern. However, the Round Table, a men’s social and community organisation where Mike serves as Devon president, raised over £20,000 through GoFundMe. Mike began working again in January 2026, taking on smaller jobs, and by February he was back to fitting kitchens full-time.
Raising Awareness for Stroke in Younger People
Mike is now focused on raising awareness as the UK’s network of 275 Round Tables begins a year of fundraising for the charity Different Strokes, which supports working-age stroke survivors. “I think it’s important people know a stroke can happen to you at any age, and I think my age and fitness helped my recovery,” he added.
