Lightning Strikes Twice: Life After Two Brain Haemorrhages

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE is a detailed recounting of the experiences of an author who had two severe strokes and underwent two long periods of recovery and rehabilitation over a period of twenty years. The story is told with a lightness of touch and a generous helping of humour. The World itself has taken some hard knocks over the same period and Tom East does not try to ignore these. Nor does he forget the important part played by others in his recovery. To quote directly from what he writes: 'The story is by no means all dark. If I have learned anything since the Millennium, it is how ready to be helpful, concerned, and considerate in a non-patronising way almost everyone has been. I have been given an object lesson in the finest qualities of human nature' and 'The formal dedication to my family at the front of this book is richly deserved. No-one has helped me more than they. Yet I must also thank friends, other relatives, former colleagues, medical and other professionals of all kinds, acquaintances and even a large number of complete strangers, some of whose names I never found out, for the genuine kindness they have shown to me.' If you have yourself survived any kind of stroke, someone close to you has, or you are reading for more than purely scientific reasons, this book will be of interest to you.

Table of Contents:
Strokes (Introduction) Episode One: Life Changes at the Millennium [1] The Life Before [2] And Then It Went Dark [3] Inpatient The Long Road Back [4] Out of Hospital [5] Around Carreg Cennan [6] Two Games of Cricket [7] Well-Wishers [8] The Eyes Have It [9] Uninsured Spain [10] Goodbye to All That Work [11] New York, New York [12] Lessons on the Rhine [13] On the Road [14] Walking and Talking Episode Two: Not Again! [15] Out of Focus [16] Emergency Admission [17] My Darkest Night [18] The Impatient Patient The Longer Road Back [19] A Deep and Dark December [20] Physiotherapy [21] Bonjour to a White Christmas [22] Weighty Matters [23] Minor Matters [24] Speech Therapy [25] Investigations [26] Learning Welsh [27] Dreamscapes [28] Writing [29] Quo Vadis? APPENDICES [1] Diary of Events [2] Notes and Drawings, 9th April, 2000 [3] Notes, 10th April, 2000 [4] Script for Telephone Call, 11th Feb, 2011 [5] Letter to a Well-Wisher, August, 2000 [6] Speech Therapy, Part One [POEM] [7] Speech Therapy, Part Two [POEM] [8] The Speech Cards [9] Activities During BP Monitoring 159

About the Author :
Tom East's latest full-length publication, in June 2025, is INFIDEL. This is a collection of short fiction notable for its variety. Other books still available as Paperback or eBook include TOMMY'S WAR: JULY 1914, an account of nothing less than an endeavour to stop The Great War, the controversial GOSPEL ACCORDING TO St JUDAS and the unsparing non-fiction of LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE, about recovery from two brain haemorrhages. Earlier, Tom was the writer of many works of fiction, commercial features, essays, reviews, 'other prose' and poetry. He was born in London, although of a Welsh family and lived in Wales for many years. Fifteen books are available as paperback and eBook Worldwide as at June 2025 are::THE ANSWER IS AN EGG SANDWICH, THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT VERSE BRIGADE, THE EVE OF ST ELIGIUS. A FIFTIES' CHILDHOOD, THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST JUDAS. THE GREENLAND PARTY, INFIDEL, THE KA OF STEPHEN CHARLES, LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE, THE LOWELL LETTERS, LYRICS, POLEMICS AND POETICS, SCENES FROM SEASONS, TOMMY'S WAR: JULY 1914, WHY WRITE HAIKU? and WISH MAN'S WOOD.