Vahid, 22, had a stroke in his sleep

Vahid Kulbay did everything right: He worked out, ate healthy, didn’t drink alcohol. Yet he suffered a stroke at just 22 years old. After several years in a wheelchair, he has recovered.

– I want to show that it is possible to come back, he says.

The number of people who suffer a stroke in Sweden has fallen sharply in recent years. But there is one exception. Among people under the age of 30, the number of victims has instead risen by 46 percent. The same trend can be seen throughout the Western world.

Younger people are increasingly suffering from strokes – a lack of oxygen in the brain caused by bleeding or blood clots. Often the road back after the stroke is both long and difficult. Today, around 100,000 people in Sweden live with the effects of a stroke.

One of them is Vahid Kulbay, 32. He had trained earlier that day ten years ago. But it wasn’t a good workout.

– I felt that I wasn’t feeling well so I canceled and went home to rest, he says.

Screamed in my sleep

He has no memory of what happened later that night. His parents have said that they woke up to Vahid screaming in his sleep and complaining of a headache. When he vomited and passed out, his mother called an ambulance. At the hospital, a severe brain hemorrhage was diagnosed, a so-called hemorrhagic stroke. Vahid was sedated for 15 days and woke up paralyzed on the right side of his body.

– I didn’t know where I was when I woke up from the respirator. Everyone tried to explain to me that I had had a stroke but I couldn’t take it in, I was going home. The only thing I asked was “why can’t I move?”

Time and again, staff and relatives tried to explain what he had suffered, but Vahid only answered “what are you talking about?” Stroke was not on the map, he lived so healthily and no one else in the family had had a stroke. Vahid’s stroke was caused by a vascular malformation no one knew about.

– Only later, when I was in a wheelchair, could I take it in. Then came a lot of thoughts. Would I be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life? Why was I affected?

The world as a workplace

Vahid worked as a photo model and his plan was to work with the whole world as a workplace. Instead, he had to focus on rehabilitation – a process that took eight years.

– I was in a wheelchair for two years and walked for four years with a walker and crutches. I was by far the youngest in rehab, the other patients called me “the kid”.

He was always determined to do everything to recover, despite the fact that even the doctors were doubtful that it would work.

– Afterwards, I received letters of thanks from the others at the hospital for being so positive and spreading joy. I had made up my mind: I didn’t want to be angry. I had understood how short and fragile life is, says Vahid.

Today, in addition to being a model, he also works as a group exercise instructor and personal trainer with a focus on seniors. He lectures about his stroke and the long road to a normal life with a job, girlfriend and family plans.

– It’s my way of paying back. I want to inspire and show that it is possible to have a good life after a stroke.

Been dumped

But there have been some bumps in the road. Vahid has been stared at, declared an idiot and pitied with. He has been refused entry to the pub because the guards thought his wobbly gait was due to intoxication. His illness has also led to new people canceling contact. He also wants to highlight all of this in his lectures.

– People can be so judgmental. I get a completely different treatment now that I’m healthy than I did when I was sick. I still get brain tired sometimes and some things take a little longer. I also feel that my balance is not at its best, but otherwise I feel recovered.

Today, a shunt, a tube that drains fluid, in Vahid’s head is the only thing that reminds him of the stroke.

– I only feel it when I move my head, he says.

Facts

Stroke

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