A four-time All-Ireland winning footballer has said she counts herself 'very lucky' after recovering from a stroke.
Dublin star Siobhán McGrath suffered a stroke last June, after dismissing aches and pains she was experiencing as simple exhaustion.
However this changed when she suffered a stroke last June.
The 35-year-old told Lunchtime Live she noticed something strange when she went to get dressed.
"I was trying to put on my t-shirt, and I noticed then my hands and my fingers were in different directions," she said.
"My arms just weren't really functioning properly.
"My t-shirt got a bit tangled in my hands, and my brain just wouldn't comprehend how to actually untangle the t-shirt and put it on.
"I decided I just needed to get a bit of air, so I went over to my window and I tried to open that.
"Again, I could put my hands on the clasp, but my brain couldn't figure out how to push them and my fingers wouldn't really do it either".
'Double-Dutch came out'
Siobhán said pushing at the window set off her house alarm, which she couldn't remember the code for.
"One part of my brain was still in control, because I was able to calm myself down and just take a few deep breaths," she said.
"I was in-between [thinking], 'Was this a stroke, or was this becoming a bad migraine?'
Siobhán McGrath of Dublin in May 2021 before the Lidl Ladies Football National League Division match between Dublin and Waterford at Parnell Park. Picture by: Ben McShane/Sportsfile"I managed then to turn off my alarm and I went back upstairs and I did go to myself, 'You need to check the other signs'.
"My face wasn't drooping and then I went to speak... and double-Dutch came out.
"I just couldn't form a sentence and words just were not coming.
"At that point, I kind of knew it's gone more than a migraine, or there's definitely something else happening".
'Make sure you get fully tested'
Siobhán said she called her mother and "got the words 'hospital' or 'doctor' out", but much of the signs had abated.
She then went to her doctor, who sent her straight to A&E.
"I wasn't really showing signs of somebody who did have one," she said.
"The CAT scan came back clear as well; it was actually the MRI that showed it up.
"It's definitely worth making sure you get fully tested and get cleared".
Dublin's Siobhán McGrath at the 2012 TG4/O'Neills Ladies All-Star Tour Exhibition Game in Toronto, Canada. Picture by: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILESiobhán has since made a full recovery.
"I feel I'm quite lucky in my recovery," she said.
"I obviously had fatigue - I never felt fatigue like it - for a couple of months afterwards, and headaches.
"The other thing that I felt took it's time to come back was my vocabulary, especially in a professional sense.
"It just wasn't coming as fluidly as it would have beforehand.
"I feel fine now - I feel like a year on, I would never have even known I had it.
"I am very lucky though".
'Slow down a bit'
Siobhán said she's happy to take things a little easier than she did before.
"I do obviously tell myself to slow down quicker than I would have beforehand,” she said.
"I'm quicker to identify I'm tired and slow down a bit.
"But I do feel very myself for the last two to three months".
Siobahán is also back playing with the team.
"I get energy from exercise... maybe that did help with my fatigue," she added.
She is urging people to know the FAST signs for stroke - Face, Arms, Speech and Time.
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