Stroke victim reunited with man who saved his life

A man who suffered a stroke while on a solo motorbike ride in the Yorkshire Dales has been reunited with the stranger who saved his life.

Earl Parker, 80, was in Swaledale on 7 April when he was suddenly hit by intense pain and loss of feeling in his hand, which he said "hit me like a hammer".

Ashley Hird, 56, a passing farmer to whom Earl had just been chatting, recognised his symptoms as a stroke and took him to a GP surgery in Hawes as he "knew I had to do something".

Earl was airlifted to hospital where he was treated and recovered within days, and, meeting Ashley again months later, he said he wanted to "raise more awareness about strokes" due to the experience and the help he received.

Earl, who was 79 at the time, said that when the symptoms had first struck, it "hit me like a hammer".

He explained he had stopped to take photographs when he felt "a huge noise, coloured lights flashing".

"It was a horrible experience," he said.

Ashley said that as soon as he saw what was happening to Earl, he realised what he had to do.

"I just knew I had to do something. If I could get him to the doctor's surgery, that's all I could do," he said.

"His voice had changed slightly. When he said, 'my hand', I said, 'yeah, you're having a stroke'."

After being taken to see a doctor and being airlifted to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, Earl was diagnosed with a serious stroke.

Doctors performed a thrombolysis, an emergency procedure using clot-busting drugs to break up blood clots in the brain.

Dr George Thomas, from the hospital, said: "Earl could have had a devastating stroke that would have left him severely disabled.

"What he has gone through is nothing short of a miracle and highlights essentially the importance of stroke awareness and the goodwill of people, especially in North Yorkshire."

Earl had only able to get help because Ashley had seen a TV advert which emphasised the FAST acronym, which stands for Face, Arm, Speech and Time.

"I've seen a film on telly, that stuck in my mind, but that's what it's there for," said Ashley.

"Where I was, 20 cars a day might go over it or it might be no cars. It's not terribly isolated, but if you've never been there's no reason to go over it."

Earl said he felt his life was saved for a reason.

"I've been spared, what for?" he asked.

"I really want to raise more awareness about strokes and about the air ambulance."

Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.