FEATHERSTONE ROVERS star Josh Hardcastle has opened up on his four-day hospital trip after suffering a stroke at home a fortnight ago.
The 30-year-old spent four days at Pinderfields Hospital after collapsing in his bathroom, and has now told Featherstone Rovers TV that he plans to make a full return to the sport.
“I’ve had a few negative thoughts, I’ve got two young kids at home and that really dawned on me when I was laying in the hospital bed,” said Hardcastle.
“That could have been it. It could have been game over. But looking at the others in the ward, they were in a lot worse position than me. I am still young and surrounded by a lot of good people. A lot of people don’t make recoveries from strokes and I’ve read a lot about it. I could be negative and think why me or I can crack on and focus on what I have to get back to and hopefully I’ll be back to normal life in a couple of months so this is a small price to play.
“I’ve had a bit of a mixed bag from the experts. One consultant said three months and I’d be alright. I got told six months, 12 months, one said he would recommend indefinite rest from playing. But as long as the scan goes alright when I go back in three months time then if my risk is no higher than anyone else’s then I’m happy to come back and play.”
Hardcastle talked through the horror situation which he found himself after taking a bath at home.
“It’s been surreal, not something you would ever expect to happen to any of the lads my age. It came out of nowhere, I was just in the bath on a Tuesday afternoon as I was off work anyway with my knee. I just had a bit of a funny do in the bath and then my lass found me upstairs on the bathroom floor.
“It was a bit scary for the first few hours before I got to A and E, then ended up having some scans and stayed in for four days. They found the cause of it which was a tear in the artery in the brain, so the bleed from that caused it. Now I have the cause I am hoping I can continue my recovery and get out there sometime.
“They said the tear was from head trauma, a bit of whiplash, it’s a bang on the head, something or nothing. Luckily I hadn’t been playing for a few weeks with my knee injury anyway which has probably stopped more damage coming towards me. I’ve probably been lucky with how it has happened and there were a lot of people far worse than me on that ward.
“I was conscious and it was just a weird feeling. All my left arm had gone numb and I just felt really weak trying to get out of the bath. I finally got out like a prune after about an hour and our lass found me on the bathroom floor hanging on to the door. I didn’t think too much of it, I just thought I was a bit hungry having only had a slice of toast. I had some dinner, still didn’t feel too cracking then she came back from the school run and my face was a bit drooped and my arm was flying down on its own so I ended up in A and E.”
