NI Chest Heart and Stroke are supporting Will to Give Week 6th – 12th November 2017, raising awareness of the importance of making a Will and how you can leave a gift to charity or charities #changethefuture.
“Over the last 4 years, working for Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke, I have met a number of people with long term health conditions. But the ones that have had the most effect on me are the people my own age who have survived a stroke. So many times, I have either done a quick calculation in my head or been told someone’s age, and have realised they are the same age as me.
I am 48 years old. I love my life, my family, my friends, my work, my holidays, doing what I want when I want and I can’t imagine how awful it must be to have those things suddenly ripped away from you. To have to learn to walk and talk again. To experience changes in your personality that upset your loved ones and frustrate yourself. To suddenly have all your hopes and dreams for the future, for your family life, for your career and for your future retirement swept away must be very difficult to cope with, both for you and your partner and family. Even those who make a good recovery are left with a very deep fear that it will happen again, and next time it may be worse. Their stroke defines the rest of their lives one way or another.
So many people I have met have told me that without Northern Ireland Chest Heart & Stroke they would never have regained their lives. They tell me how they were almost resigned to the fact that their life was over – at this age! But yet we provided the light at the end of the tunnel, the hope that things could improve, and the understanding and support to get there. If, and I really hope it never does, something like this happens to me, I would be very grateful that someone before me had left money in their Will so that, even though their own life was over, I could be given mine back.”
Further information
To find out more about leaving a gift to NICHS in your Will click here
