Huge stroke miraculously restores grandfather's failing sight

Published on Wednesday 2 September 2009 21:47

A GRANDFATHER has revealed that a massive stroke miraculously cured his ailing sight.

Malcolm Darby, 70, had worn glasses since the age of two due to measles.

But after suffering a stroke, he found he could suddenly see without any help at all.

Mr Darby, from Leicestershire, said he now has "six pairs of glasses I don't need". He said: "I've worn glasses my whole life. I even had them on when I had my stroke. I was doing some work in my study in May last year when I started having a nosebleed. The next thing I knew was 'bang' and I had collapsed."

The 70-year-old was rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery to remove a blood clot, and was left paralysed and unable to speak.

But as he started to recover, he noticed it was not only his speech he was getting back.

"It wasn't until about four or five days later when a nurse walked past me with a newspaper under her arm and I could read the heading. I could never have done that before," he said.

"I didn't think anything about it because I was still suffering from the stroke. But after I got home I realised I could watch my television without my glasses."

Today the father of two is talking again and manages to walk four miles a day. But recovering his sight was not the only strange effect of his life-changing stroke – the 70-year-old has lost his ability to speak French.

Joanne Murphy, research liaison officer at the Stroke Association, said: "A stroke is a brain attack when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off.

We often hear of stroke survivors who have double vision or lose half of their field of vision. It is unusual to hear of someone whose vision has got better."