A WOMAN who bounced back from a paralysing stroke is helping to champion a Southend Hospital appeal.

Less than 12 hours after being struck down, Maureen Richards, of Runnymede Road, Canvey, was able to sit up in bed and joke with visitors.

The first indications something was badly wrong came when Maureen, 66, was unable to do up her buttons and completely missed her cup when pouring an early morning drink.

She said: "My face dropped down and I couldn't speak a word."

Mrs Richards only vaguely remembers her husband, Mick, dialling 999 in tears, saying: "My wife has had a stroke".

At hospital, she was scanned using new equipment to determine how much damaged brain tissue was recoverable.

She was then given a clot-busting drug, even though the optimum three-hour window for administering it had passed.

Dr Tony O'Brien, lead consultant stroke physician, said: "Despite the fact she was outside the usual time limit, the scan revealed there was a lot of serviceable tissue there, so we gave her the drugs to dissolve the clot. She has made a full recovery."

The hospital is hoping to purchase a special scanner to make it easier to detect which patients are suitable for the thrombolytic drugs.

Since her swift recovery, Mrs Richards has decided to become an ambassador for the hospital's £1million StrokeBusters appeal to raise money for new equipment for its acute stroke unit.

After only a week, Mrs Richards was able to go home, armed with appeal leaflets to hand out to family and friends.

She said: "I really think it was a miracle. I'm so, so grateful to the doctors and the wonderful nurses.

"When my family came to visit me the evening I was brought in, I felt a complete fraud because I looked so healthy and glowing.

"I would urge everyone to contribute to the appeal - strokes happen so quickly and no one knows if it could be them."

For more information, contact the department of fundraising on 01702 385337 or 01702 435555, ext 6401.