BACK in April 2008 David Guthrie was reluctantly thrust into being a full-time carer.

His wife Rita had just suffered a life-threatening stroke and needed a major brain operation. She was in intensive care for two weeks.

She was left multiple disabilities and needed full time care — the hard work was only just beginning.

David began a long battle to get his wife the treatment she needed, a battle that would push him to breaking point.

Two years later and David, now 80, could see that Rita, now 78, would not recover while receiving treatment on the NHS and knew he needed to take drastic action.

He said: “She was assessed in the UK and told she had absolutely no potential for recovery at all.

“She was in a wheelchair at the time and had serious cognitive difficulties.

“My wife used to be very fit when she was young but it changed her life. She had a lot of problems.

“The situation had gone so far I felt helpless. They had made the decision that she could not get better.

“When they told me she wouldn’t get better I decided I had to do something.”

After a suggestion by a family friend, the couple took a 6,000-mile trip from their home in Halstead to Fish Hoek, a small fishing village located near to Cape Town in South Africa, for a much-needed break.

The sun and relaxing environment was supposed to do them good.

While there they met with medical professionals, who laughed off the prognosis that Rita had been given in Britain.

David continued: “They did not believe the prognosis Rita had been given and they said she could make progress in three UK winters of going over there.”

Eighteen months of daily therapy followed spread across six visits to Fish Hoek, and the results were astounding.

The couple, who now live in Priory Hall Retirement Home, Halstead, were finally able to get their lives back on track.

David said: “In 2015 I got double pneumonia and while I was in hospital she was living at home by herself. That wouldn’t have been possible before.

“She had been in a wheelchair and now can walk five miles when she wants to.

“We’ve returned to South Africa since and she has walked up the same mountains we used to wheel her up in her wheelchair.

“She has almost made a full recovery, except still suffers from short-term memory loss.”

Based on his experiences and mistakes as someone caring for a severely ill stroke survivor, David has written a book, with the hope of inspiring and helping others who may be in the same situation.

Pushing the Boundaries – a phrase used by the medical professionals who aided Rita’s recovery – is the couple’s story laid bare, and in a way a sort of therapy of his own for David.

He said: “I felt it was a story worth telling. So many people are told that they cannot get better after a stroke.”

Split into four parts, Pushing the Boundaries begins with the two-year battle that David faced in the immediate aftermath of Rita’s stroke.

Next comes the life-changing trip to South Africa and its miraculous consequences.

While he does have a background in chemistry, David is not a doctor.

However the final part is his discussions on what he believes contributed to her recovery – most importantly Rita’s inner determination to get better herself. I am not suggesting that those in South Africa were better therapists than the ones in the UK but their attitude was a major factor.

“In this country it tends to be negative, whereas they thought the negative prognosis was ridiculous.

“It is very difficult to get therapy in this country for strokes on the NHS because it is too expensive and takes too long.”

After going through such a difficult time, but yet making it out the other side, David is hopeful that his book can make a small difference to those out there struggling to recover from a stroke.

And of course friends, family and the loved ones of the patients who are so deeply affected

He said: “It is an individual story of how one person got better but I think there is a lot of interesting information in there.

“What we had is the best therapy you can have for a stroke but it is not provided here, at least not in this area.

“If we had stayed in this country there is not a chance she would have recovered.”

Pushing the Boundaries, published by YPD Books, is out now and available from Amazon and other similar retailers.

Part first-hand account, part information pamphlet, the book includes a index of information that David wishes he had available to him when he was dealing with Rita’s recovery.

Visit http://bit.ly/2sixMGS.