• A stroke is a brain attack.
  It is the 3rd biggest killer in the UK…
  ...and the biggest cause of disability...
  12 people have a stroke every hour in the UK, 2 of those are in Nottinghamshire.

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• A stroke is basically an interruption of the blood supply to a part of the brain,
  and is sometimes called a CVA or 'cerebro-vascular accident'.

• The interruption is due to either a blockage in a blood vessel (ischaemic)
  or a break in a blood vessel (haemorrhagic)
  both of which stop blood getting through to the brain cells that the blood is supposed to feed.

• After a time the unfed cells die. This time varies but is usually measured in hours - although some cells can recover over much longer periods of time.

• When tissue is damaged, cells around the damaged area start to die through a natural process of attrition called apoptosis.

• The brain is made up of two 'hemispheres', right and left.
  

• Damage done to the left side of the brain will generally affect the right side of the body and may also affect speech and language (aphasia).
  

• Damage to the right side of the brain usually affects the left side of the body. ...

• THIS IS ONLY A LAYMAN'S VIEW - TALK TO DOCTORS AND REFER TO LEFT SIDEBAR to see THE STROKE ASSOCIATION and BBC HEALTH 'Proper' Explanations.