Types of Stroke: Understanding the Differences and Adam Jackson’s Journey
Introduction: What Are the Types of Stroke?
A stroke occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted, depriving brain cells of oxygen and causing damage. It is a leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting millions each year. However, not all strokes are the same. Understanding the types of stroke, their causes, and their impact on survivors can help individuals seek the right treatment and rehabilitation strategies.
In this article, we will explore:
- The three main types of stroke
- Common symptoms and risk factors
- Diagnosis and treatment options
- Adam Jackson’s inspiring story of stroke recovery and adaptive sports
- Prevention tips and lifestyle changes
- Encouragement and resources for stroke survivors and caregivers
The Three Main Types of Stroke
Strokes are categorized into three main types, each requiring different treatment approaches and rehabilitation strategies.
1. Ischemic Stroke
An ischemic stroke is the most common type, accounting for about 87% of all strokes. It occurs when a blood clot blocks an artery, cutting off oxygen to the brain.
Subtypes of ischemic stroke:
- Thrombotic Stroke: Caused by a clot forming in an artery supplying the brain.
- Embolic Stroke: Caused by a clot that forms elsewhere in the body (often the heart) and travels to the brain.
✅ Treatment: Doctors may administer a clot-busting drug (tPA) or perform a mechanical thrombectomy to remove the clot.
2. Hemorrhagic Stroke
A hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain bursts, leading to bleeding. This can be caused by high blood pressure, aneurysms, or arteriovenous malformations (AVMs).
Subtypes of hemorrhagic stroke:
- Intracerebral Hemorrhage: Bleeding occurs directly into brain tissue.
- Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: Bleeding occurs in the space between the brain and thin tissues covering it.
✅ Treatment: Surgery may be needed to relieve pressure, and medications help control bleeding and lower blood pressure.
3. Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) – The “Mini-Stroke”
A transient ischemic attack (TIA) is a temporary blockage of blood flow to the brain, typically lasting a few minutes to hours without causing permanent damage. TIAs are often warning signs of a future ischemic stroke.
✅ Treatment: Lifestyle changes, medications, and monitoring are essential to prevent a full stroke.
Symptoms and Risk Factors of Stroke
Common Stroke Symptoms (Remember F.A.S.T.)
- Face drooping: One side of the face may droop or feel numb.
- Arm weakness: Difficulty raising one or both arms.
- Speech difficulty: Slurred speech or trouble speaking.
- Time to call 911: Seek emergency care immediately.
Risk Factors for Stroke
✅ Controllable Factors: High blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, and physical inactivity. ✅ Uncontrollable Factors: Age, family history, genetics, and prior strokes or TIAs.
Diagnosis and Treatment of Stroke
Doctors use various tools to diagnose and assess stroke severity, including:
- CT Scan or MRI: To detect bleeding or blockages in the brain.
- Carotid Ultrasound: To assess blood flow in the neck arteries.
- Echocardiogram: To check for heart-related causes of embolic strokes.
Treatment Approaches:
✅ For ischemic stroke: tPA (clot-busting drug), mechanical thrombectomy, blood thinners. ✅ For hemorrhagic stroke: Blood pressure management, surgery (if needed), rehabilitation. ✅ For TIAs: Preventive medications, lifestyle changes, close monitoring.
Adam Jackson’s Stroke Journey and Adaptive Sports Recovery
A Veteran’s Unexpected Stroke Experience
Adam Jackson, an Australian Army veteran, experienced his first stroke in 2010 while deployed in Afghanistan. His symptoms included leg weakness and temporary paralysis, but his condition went undiagnosed.
Overcoming Challenges Through Adaptive Sports
Adam’s recovery was challenging, especially during the COVID-19 lockdown, which restricted hospital visits from family and friends. Despite this, he remained determined to rebuild his strength.
His breakthrough came when he discovered adaptive sports, including: ✅ Indoor rowing ✅ Swimming ✅ Sitting volleyball ✅ Nordic skiing
Adam now competes in Invictus Games and Warrior Games, proving that stroke recovery is about pushing limits, finding new passions, and staying resilient.
Stroke Prevention: Reducing the Risk
Preventing stroke is possible through lifestyle changes and medical management.
Top Stroke Prevention Tips:
✅ Monitor Blood Pressure: Keep it under control. ✅ Maintain a Healthy Diet: Focus on whole grains, fruits, and lean proteins. ✅ Stay Active: Exercise regularly. ✅ Quit Smoking: Smoking increases stroke risk significantly. ✅ Manage Stress: Meditation and relaxation techniques can help. ✅ Regular Check-ups: Detect and manage risk factors early.
Encouragement and Resources for Stroke Survivors
Recovering from a stroke is a journey, and you are not alone. Whether you’re facing ischemic stroke recovery, adaptive sports after stroke, or looking for mental health after stroke support, there are resources available:
???? Support Groups: Join local or online stroke survivor communities. ???? Rehabilitation Centers: Work with physical therapists for ongoing improvement. ???? Books & Podcasts: Learn from stroke recovery stories, like The Unexpected Way That a Stroke Became the Best Thing That Happened. ???? Adaptive Sports Programs: Engage in activities that help regain strength and confidence.
Surviving Two Strokes: Adam Jackson’s Inspiring Adaptive Sports Journey
Types of stroke impact recovery in unique ways. Adam Jackson shares how adaptive sports helped him reclaim his strength after two strokes.
Highlights:
00:00 Updates and Gratitude
01:48 Introduction to Adam Jackson
03:58 Adam’s First Stroke in 2010
08:06 Adam’s Second Stroke in 2020
12:52 Recovery and Deficits
17:13 Adam’s Career and Military Service
24:19 Transition to Adaptive Sports
31:35 Challenges and Motivation
42:32 Advice for Stroke Survivors
51:46 The Mental and Physical Benefits of Training
1:02:12 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Transcript:
Updates and Gratitude
Bill Gasiamis 0:00
Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Recovery After Stroke Podcast. Before we dive into today’s inspiring conversation, I wanted to share some exciting updates and express my gratitude to this incredible community. First off, a massive thank you to all my amazing Patreon supporters, your contributions are truly making a difference by helping cover the costs of producing this podcast. Because of your support, not only is this show accessible to you, but it’s also available for other stroke survivors who may not be in a position to contribute financially.
Bill Gasiamis 0:40
Your generosity ensures that this resource continues to reach those who need it the most another simple but powerful way to support the podcast is by listening to the ads without skipping them. It may not seem like much, but just letting the ads play helps keep this podcast going, allowing me to bring you valuable content week after week. Speaking of growth, we’re now at 49 five-star reviews on Spotify, and the YouTube channel is on track to surpass 5000 subscribers in the next 30 days.
Bill Gasiamis 1:15
More and more stroke survivors and caregivers are finding this content, leaving comments and engaging in meaningful conversations, I couldn’t be more grateful for this growing community. A huge thank you goes out to those who have read and reviewed my book The Unexpected Way That A Stroke Became The Best Thing That Happened. Every review and message inspires me to keep sharing these conversations. If you haven’t picked up your copy yet, you can find it on Amazon or at recoveryafterstroke.com/book.
Introduction to Adam Jackson
Bill Gasiamis 1:48
And if you’re looking for additional guidance, remember about the narrated video lessons at recoveryafterstroke.com/learn, these lessons created by a stroke survivor for stroke survivors are designed to help you take actionable steps toward reclaiming your life after stroke. Now, let’s talk about today’s episode. I’m thrilled to be joined by Adam Jackson, an Australian Army veteran and stroke survivor whose story is nothing short of incredible. Adam experienced two strokes 10 years apart, the first of which went undiagnosed while he was deployed in Afghanistan.
Bill Gasiamis 2:29
When his second stroke hit in 2020 he faced complete paralysis on his right side, but rather than let it define him, Adam took on his biggest challenge yet, rebuilding his life through adaptive sports. Adam’s journey is one of perseverance, mindset shifts and finding purpose through movement and competition. In this episode, we’ll explore how he transitioned from recovery to competing in the Invictus Games, what adaptive sports have meant for his rehabilitation and how he continues to push his limits. Let’s get started. Adam Jackson, welcome to the podcast.
Adam Jackson 3:09
Thank you, Bill.
Bill Gasiamis 3:12
Tell me a little bit about what happened to you man.
Adam Jackson 3:13
Okay, so in 2020 I had a massive, so I woke up to about 5am in the morning, and we were obviously, my wife was asleep. I said ‘Do you want to go to the gym, or can I go? And she’s like ‘You go. Like, okay, cool. I’m downstairs, started doing some laundry, and then I just sort of was on the ground. Like ‘What am I doing here? Unless looked up the washing machine must have had a fall or something that I just didn’t need to grab the washing machine, pull myself up, go to the couch, couldn’t do it. Was missing my right arm. I was like ‘Where’s my right arm?
Adam’s First Stroke in 2010
Adam Jackson 3:58
Like, looking around, couldn’t see it didn’t want to wake my wife up against I started thinking about calling out to the girl my because I got two daughters. They’re both 11 and 13 now. But then my wife heard me mumble something, so she came down, saw me, said ‘You’re having a stroke. A mum with something again, she called the ambulance, took a while to get there, then I got transferred to hospital on the Sunshine Coast.
Adam Jackson 4:34
They did some scans and stuff, and then they sent me to Brisbane, to the Royal Brisbane Hospital, and that’s where I spent my first week after my stroke. So I had a left side MCA, and I was completely paralyzed MRI, MCA.
Bill Gasiamis 5:00
What’s an MCA?
Adam Jackson 5:02
Good question, a something cerebral.
Bill Gasiamis 5:12
Let me check since I asked you left side. MC, cerebral, left middle cerebral artery is the artery that was impacted perhaps.
Adam Jackson 5:30
Yes, that’s it, yeah.
Bill Gasiamis 5:32
And you had an ischemic stroke?
Adam Jackson 5:35
Yes.
Bill Gasiamis 5:37
Alright, left middle cerebral artery. I’ve got no idea where that’s located. It’s probably somewhere in the brain, right?
Adam Jackson 5:45
That’s alright. It didn’t so that was another may 2020 Yeah.
Bill Gasiamis 5:52
That was in 2020 but you had a stroke in 2010?
Adam Jackson 5:56
Yes, they didn’t know it was a stroke back then. So I’m a veteran of the Australian Army. So I was in Afghanistan at the time, in 2010 again, really, so I woke up we’re in a room like four people. Car was getting changed to go call my wife Kate, stood up my right side leg felt funny. You know how you get pins and needles when you sit on your leg too long, or that sort of thing, it felt like that. I was like, that’s weird, and then I just lost complete feeling in my right leg. I was like ‘That’s not good.
Adam Jackson 6:45
Then my left leg started going and I was like, because we were in bunk beds, and there wasn’t anyone on the top bunk, but I was holding onto the bunk. And then my left leg did the same thing, and then I collapsed on the floor, and I remember feeling like my legs underneath twitching, and I had to, like, grab them and throw them out. And I didn’t have pants on that at that stage. So I was sitting there going, I’m gonna have to call someone to come and put my pants off and take me to the hospital, and but the feeling came back. I was like ‘Oh, that was weird.
Adam Jackson 7:25
Got dressed, went downstairs, spoke to my wife on the phone, started to get ahead from there, said ‘You know, I’m going to get back to my room. And just got worse from there, so that was thrown up, went back to bed, and then I couldn’t get out of bed, so I’d call someone to help, and they helped me into the car, took me to the roll three hospital at canter airfield. They did somehow, like heaps of scans and stuff, and I was pretty much out for that day, they couldn’t find out what was wrong. So they couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me.
Adam’s Second Stroke in 2020
Adam Jackson 8:07
They thought it was meningitis or some thought so autos. But then they just, you know, I went back spent, I think, not one night on the hospital, and then went back to my room, where I spent like, five days just recovering slowly. Again, it’s that fatigue, and then a lot of stroke survivors talk about that fatigue, but that stroke was like that for weeks and weeks where I just fatigued. Couldn’t do my normal stuff, but I was fine.
Adam Jackson 8:44
Didn’t investigate it the first stroke. So it was a tiny stroke, so when the big stroke happened in 2020 the doctors just like, Has anything happened like this before? And we talked about that, and then they got the scans back, and they can see the old in fact, where the injury, old injury was, and then this injury was, like, basically around that. So, yeah.
Bill Gasiamis 9:10
So what do they reckon the causes two ischemic strokes 10 years apart? Is there an underlying cause?
Adam Jackson 9:18
Yes, it. I had a PSO, and you can ask me what that stands for.
Bill Gasiamis 9:25
Patent Foramen Ovale.
Adam Jackson 9:27
That’s it.
Bill Gasiamis 9:28
It’s a hole in the heart.
Adam Jackson 9:30
Yes. So I had one of those, and they that’s from skirts, that’s what they say caused it, probably, as you know, one and I think three people have one or pretty common, but obviously a lot of people, it doesn’t cause strokes in everyone. But after two, they’re like ‘Okay, we go close that hole up.
Bill Gasiamis 9:52
Let’s take a quick pause here before we dive back into Adam’s inspiring story and his journey through adaptive sports. I want to take him. Moment to express my gratitude to my Patreon supporters, your contributions keep this podcast going, ensuring that it remains accessible, not just for you, but for other stroke survivors who may not be in a position to provide financial support. If you’d like to be a part of this and help sustain the podcast, you could check out my Patreon, at patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke.
Bill Gasiamis 10:27
Okay, so the first time they did work out that perhaps it was the PFO or they didn’t investigate it.
Adam Jackson 10:36
So my first stroke, they didn’t actually know it was a stroke until my second massive stroke.
Bill Gasiamis 10:44
Yeah, wow. So how do you recover from a stroke when you have no idea you had a stroke 10 years earlier?
Adam Jackson 10:52
It’s lucky, I suppose that it wasn’t a big stroke. I mean, the doctor said because they did the scans so early on that sometimes it doesn’t show up until later on the injury. So that’s why they didn’t pick it up. And I mean, I was in Afghanistan at the time, so you know, as good as the medical and you know, the doctors and stuff over there are fantastic.
Adam Jackson 11:23
I mean, it’s not a proper hospital by anything, but they still had scanners and stuff, and like, obviously, what my injury was, or my stroke, wasn’t anything compared to the other soldiers and stuff, but they suffer. So, yeah, just different injuries that.
Bill Gasiamis 11:52
So this one in 2020 we’re talking about almost lockdown. Were you in lockdown? What was the situation there with the medical situation? Because that’s when March 2020, was when I know Melbourne locked down like nothing else you’re in Brisbane. So what was that like?
Adam Jackson 12:16
Took a couple of weeks. It was okay when I was in Brisbane, but when I went back to sun and coast, I think it was like, was like one or two weeks later, probably a week later that they started locking down the hospital. So my kids couldn’t come up to the ward, because I went into the stroke ward for, I think, one or two days, and then I got transferred to the rehabilitation ward, and they locked it down, so it was only like my wife that could come and visit me. So they limited numbers of people that come up and see me.
Recovery and Deficits
Adam Jackson 12:52
Which sucked when you’re trying to recover from such a massive stroke. And having that support at the start was absolutely important for recovering, because the kids could come watch me do my physio, you know, try to get the movement back in my right side, and then just cut that out, was devastating.
Bill Gasiamis 13:19
So right now, what are your deficits?
Adam Jackson 13:23
I’ve still got deficit in my leg, my right hand is non-functional. And then I’ve still got deficits on my riders, but as well. So like my ankle joint, my hip, knee, sort of, I sort of explain it that, like my bigger muscles turned on pretty quickly, because I was fit before my stroke, they could come back pretty quickly, and you could switch them on. But the little muscles, you know, in the hand, there’s, like, so many intricate muscles that need to work and to actually make that connection is just, it’s hard.
Bill Gasiamis 14:03
So, yeah, does that mean you’re able to walk?
Adam Jackson 14:06
Yep, I can walk and I can run. Yeah, took me three months from not being able to walk to being sort of running again, and that’s when they kicked me out of the hospital because they’re like ‘You can, you don’t need to be in rehab for it. I was like ‘Okay.
Bill Gasiamis 14:25
Yeah, well, you don’t need to be in rehab to learn how to walk again or run, but you probably need to be in rehab to use your arms.
Adam Jackson 14:34
So I pretty much before I left hospital, either organized OT, so Effie Simpson, she’s amazing, and I still see it. So, you know, four years later, I still do physio, I still do OT, I still do Rehab per se, or, you know, to maintain that muscle mass and maintain that movement. I’m still doing stuff, it just never ends, and if you stop, it’s now, obviously you get backwards.
Bill Gasiamis 15:13
So who did you mention I missed that?
Adam Jackson 15:19
Effie Simpson.
Bill Gasiamis 15:22
Amazing, okay. So you see Effie, that’s why we’re connected. That makes sense now, that’s it.
Adam Jackson 15:29
Yeah.
Bill Gasiamis 15:30
Okay, so with your deficits, are there any cognitive deficits, any other challenges that you deal with on a daily basis that are not related to the physical part.
Adam Jackson 15:43
So I still have word funding difficulties, spelling difficulties, my mind will just go blank, like, how do you spell “There”? Or, you know, just common words.
Bill Gasiamis 15:59
Which “There”?, though, because I get stuck on “There” all the time. And where I get stuck on “WHERE” as well. Where. Where are they? All the wares I don’t know which one to use, never.
Adam Jackson 16:07
Yeah, I teach my girls as for the bear, where you going? Something like you’re going there, I say “Here, There, every where.” Then you know how to spell, but sometimes it works.
Bill Gasiamis 16:29
ERE and their, it’s their ball, THEIR, and they are, They, THEY. I know all of that, but in a sentence, sometimes, it just doesn’t, it just doesn’t flow. Like, can’t just slot it in the right one, and especially with the wares, you know, where, we’re and where, and that’s been for me, a challenge, like since almost day one. And it’s such a it’s not a real struggle, but it’s such a really weird thing to be aware of and notice and not be able to just get it right.
Adam’s Career and Military Service
Bill Gasiamis 17:13
And I always have to get a pen out and write them all down and see them all and then go again. And if I’m not using a computer which will auto correct, it’s just fascinating that it keeps happening. So your what kind of work? What were you doing in 2020? Were you still in the armed forces?
Adam Jackson 17:39
So I was actually a reservist at that time. So I did 12 years full time, and then 3 years part time reserved time. So I was actually my full time job was, I was a fly in – fly out electronics technician, working for BA time and again. Luckily, I wasn’t at work, because I probably would have died.
Adam Jackson 18:07
So you don’t quite contact because you’re on 12 hour shifts. If it’s your 12 hour off, don’t really see anyone except, you know, breakfast, dinner or lunch. And it’s a small camp, so there’s only like 20 people on on site. So again, you’ve got to count the blessings when this happens, when you have a medical professional for a wife.
Bill Gasiamis 18:35
That helps a loss.
Adam Jackson 18:37
Yes.
Bill Gasiamis 18:38
How many years were you in the army?
Adam Jackson 18:40
12, it’s peak 15 in total.
Bill Gasiamis 18:45
How old were you when you joined?
Adam Jackson 18:49
25 I joined later.
Bill Gasiamis 18:53
Yeah, that’s alright. 25 so you’re in there for 12 years. And then when you’re in the army. How many places did you deploy to? Had you been to?
Adam Jackson 19:05
I’ve been to Afghanistan twice, which, again, actually really enjoyed it being in the Army. I was a Navy and legs technician, so I used to work on the Chinook helicopters. And to be there, you know, this is Kandahar Airfield is massive, like 30,000 people on site. There’s like six messes, there’s shops you can go shop at, there’s the PXS. It’s just, you know, it’s like a little mini city.
Adam Jackson 19:38
And then for like, an aviation person, see all the allies, helicopters, aircraft, jets. It’s just it was awesome. Good experience, you know. And people at home don’t like the war, or didn’t at the time.
Bill Gasiamis 20:06
It wasn’t a popular war.
Adam Jackson 20:08
No, not at all. But I explained it to someone one time and said “No, if you were an engineer, would you were like to work on models for the rest of your life?” And they’re like “No.” I said “See, why do you want, like a defense force member to just stay at home and do exercises, as opposed to going overseas and helping people and doing their job for real?” Because it’s not like the Australian Defense Force is not about the wars, it’s about helping people, you know, doing the humanitarian aid.
Adam Jackson 20:42
When there’s psych what do they call that? Tsunamis, you know, fires, floods, cyclones. That’s what we’re there for, and that’s what we want to do now. We wanted to get to the poison for those things, to help people. It’s not about so I suppose, because we’re like, because I was in the defense force, you have a different perspective of what we actually do.
Bill Gasiamis 21:14
I suppose the purpose of joining the defense force is to deploy. That’s the whole point.
Adam Jackson 21:20
Exactly, yep.
Bill Gasiamis 21:22
Being a reservist is maybe a different thing. Perhaps trains you to a certain extent, but the whole purpose is to be a reservist. It’s not to be exactly deployed, right? So you’re deployed and you your role meant that you didn’t specifically see any the theater of Wolf on the front line or anything like that. You didn’t see that part of it?
Adam Jackson 21:49
Not really. I’m like, we still got it. So the Taliban used to send, like, 105 mill rockets. So they had, like a timer. So they set it, build it like a dirt mound, and then just sort of roughly payment. And then they set a timer, like an egg timer or something, so it set off that they wouldn’t be anywhere near where that came from. You get rockets daily landing on base. One hit one of the three concrete accommodation blocks.
Adam Jackson 22:33
One of the rockets hit the one next to us completely destroyed the room, but he was out having a smoke at the time. So, yeah, it’s just you, and you hear a lot of stories about people who weren’t in the room when at the time.
Bill Gasiamis 22:51
And reason I was asking about your career and where you work was kind of to try and understand, like, what you’re made of and and how you applied your training, and the things that you went through, the tough times being deployed, getting ready to deploy, all that kind of stuff. How do you apply that to your stroke recovery? Is there a transfer of skills into stroke recovery? Do you use what you’ve learned in the army to get you through those hard times of stroke?
Adam Jackson 23:34
Yes, so I was always a positive person before I joined the Army, and I think mostly that positivity helped me not recover but get through those hard times. But in the Defense Force, they teach you just to keep going like you can’t stop because there’s someone depending on especially with the helicopters, if we don’t fix our helicopter, that could mean that someone needs a like a medical evacuation, can’t get back, or the troops on the front line can’t get picked up when they need to say “It’s very important to just do your job, do it well.”
Transition to Adaptive Sports
Adam Jackson 24:19
Doesn’t matter what you’re going through, you got to think about the other people as well that are depending on you to do your job. I think that sort of transfers into my recoveries, that just instead of other people depending on, or people that I don’t know depending on me, it’s my family that you know, I have to that depend on me, and I depend on them to get better, to put to live, so that I’m there for my family and they’re there for me.
Adam Jackson 24:53
So instead of, that’s my inspiration, I suppose you could say, is to get better with my family. You know, they were there from the start, they’re still here now. So, you know, supporting me in whatever I want to do in my recovery, as you know, recovering at the stop.
Bill Gasiamis 25:17
Yeah, you were a reservist in 2020, but were you also working? Did you have a job? Were you full time employed?
Adam Jackson 25:28
Yeah, so I was working the fly-in – fly-out as an electronic section.
Bill Gasiamis 25:35
Yes, fly in – fly out. So what kind of travel arrangements did that entail? So how long would you fly out for?
Adam Jackson 25:46
I was away for 15 days, and then I was back 13 and two of those 15 were travel days. So it’s basically 13 days off, 13 days at home, and then two travel days in between. So, pretty good roster. I mean, is awesome to have, yeah.
Bill Gasiamis 26:06
Pretty good roster. When you’re flying out, how far are you flying out? Where are you going?
Adam Jackson 26:14
I was went from Brisbane to Longreach and then from Longreach with a two hour drive to the radar site.
Bill Gasiamis 26:20
So, and since then, have you been able to get back to some kind of work at all?
Adam Jackson 26:30
Not really, no. So I’m retired now, and I think my job or transferred to my sport now, so and my is not my passion, but because my rehab, you know, I wanted to get better, sort of blended into the sport path. So, like at the start of the year, I was selected to do by Invictus Australia, to go over to America and do the Warrior Games in June, which is awesome experience, because that’s for the winded, wounded, sick engine soldiers. So and could be current serving or former serving members.
Adam Jackson 27:14
And then again, I got selected to go to Invictus in Canada, in Vancouver in February next year. So again, I’m training for that, but before that, it was just training to get better. So to have a goal now is amazing, you know, because I think you need those goals yourself, and it doesn’t matter what how big that goal is, but have that goal to aim towards, because otherwise people lose interest in what they’re doing in their rehab.
Bill Gasiamis 27:50
So what sport are you participating in?
Adam Jackson 27:55
At Invictus? I’m doing indoor rowing, swimming, sitting volleyball and Nordic skiing.
Bill Gasiamis 28:05
Is that enough or what?
Adam Jackson 28:07
Well, they worry, I had five sports.
Bill Gasiamis 28:11
Yeah, are you training and participating in those sports all day, every day, every week.
Adam Jackson 28:19
Indoor rowing, yes, swimming, I like train in. I’m actually in Melbourne at the moment, so just yesterday, did the High Rocks race. So anyone know what High Rocks is? It’s like a fitness race, it’s awesome. And someone suggested it to me last year, to my wife, because she’s pretty really hit as well. And they suggested, it hurt, and I looked at them, went “Nah, that’s like crazy.” But I looked into it because a lot of sports have the adaptive categories. So I looked into it because their motto is “It’s a race for everybody.”
Adam Jackson 29:13
So I was like, okay, and I sent a message and said “Do you do adaptive?” We do it’s in a draft edition, but we do have divisions for adapted athletes, so my wife and I did the Brisbane one in August, which is amazing, but again, it didn’t really count for anything. So I’ve been trying to push to get it included. And this is the first Melbourne yesterday had their first official adaptive divisions in the High Rocks race, in the men’s and open men’s and women. So the women are running racing today. It’s just it’s good to have that there, I standard that goal.
Bill Gasiamis 30:01
What does High Rocks involve? Though, it sounds weird, strange, yes.
Adam Jackson 30:08
So basically, there’s eight one kilometer runs in between, you have different stations. So 1 kilometer run, One 1000 meter skier, 1 kilometer run, you know, and you just keep going through the station. So there’s slight push, sled, pull, indoor rowing, lunges, hell bell farmers carries, burpees, door jumps, you know. So this hits your activities and beauty, the beauty of it is, as they say, everyone can do it, where everybody can do it, and you can train, you know, it’s not like a Spartan or tough mudder.
Adam Jackson 30:50
Where you have to actually go and you get muddy and dirty and you hurt yourself. We can’t really train for that. Whereas High Rocks, you know what the standards are, you know what you need to do, and most gyms you can do it at, and it’s the staff have been absolutely amazing. I can’t speak highly enough of Matt Buck, which is the Australian head he’s been super supportive of the addition divisions to try and get it through, because now we have an opportunity to go to the world championships as adapt with athletes, which is, it’s insane, but it’s good to have that.
Challenges and Motivation
Adam Jackson 31:35
You know, that goal of and again, it’s trying to get other people into the sport. But you know, people that go, I can’t do that like I did 12 months ago, to get them into the sport and go, You know what? This is actually fun, and have that again, a goal to train towards. It’s good.
Bill Gasiamis 31:57
You’re training for competitions now, when you were fit and well before the stroke?
Adam Jackson 32:04
Yep.
Bill Gasiamis 32:05
Were you doing that level of training? Were you trying to accomplish those types of goals?
Adam Jackson 32:12
I was training, probably not quite as hard as I am now, because I had to show a full time job and then the kids, but like, when I was home, I’ve always I’ve always been fit, I’ve always gone to the gym. I’ve always played, I was playing that ball before him at a high level. But again, life just pops in the way and just takes over. So I’ve always loved sport, and I’ve always loved being competitive, and this is just, you know, helped, I suppose you could say.
Bill Gasiamis 32:51
You’re in the adaptive divisions or similar, you would have met a lot of people in similar situations. You because of maybe a stroke or a different condition. What’s it like meeting other people that are going through something similar can relate to you?
Adam Jackson 33:10
So I’ll just refer back to my like my Invictus team, for example. You got people in wheelchairs, you got people, you know, with mental health problems and a lot. There’s a lot of stories out there that you look into, there’s cancer people with cancer and terminal illnesses, you just you know, you’re in awe of them as much as they’re on awe of you for their strength and their resilience to to keep pushing through, even though they know that they have a finite amount of time left on this earth, especially for the terminal cancer patients, you know.
Adam Jackson 33:57
But they’re still one of the my teammates, Doug Griffiths, he just did the kind of Marathon in Hawaii, like, that’s amazing, you know, to do that, yeah, it’s very inspirational, and you get all that. You get more energy from them being in that group of people. You know, there’s special people and to be included into that group is yes, I’m very grateful for that and for that opportunity.
Bill Gasiamis 34:36
Yeah, it sounds like that helps you with the tough days. I imagine there’s a lot of hard days in not only the training aspect of it, but also dealing with what stroke has caused and created. Is it something that you’re managing well, that you handle thing? How are you dealing with all those types of things?
Adam Jackson 35:06
Yep, mostly I handle it well. I still have my good days, my bad days, a lot of that. Because, I suppose being a adapted athlete now, like again, you look at the other people and go, you know, am I worthy? I suppose you could say and but then you just go, well, that’s why you got to give it your like yesterday in my race, like I had a carpet burn on my knee, my elbow, like I was wrecked.
Adam Jackson 35:44
But you don’t like you just don’t give up because a it teaches, you know your kids, those values of you know you might be hurt, but you’re not broken. Yeah, I think one of the Doug Griffiths mottos is, you know “Beaten but never broken.” So that’s, it’s a good motto to have.
Bill Gasiamis 36:15
So part of the thing that inspires you to keep going is the kids to be a good example for the kids.
Adam Jackson 36:22
Yeah, and from, you know, to just push through that pain. And that, or not, you know, might not be pain. It might be the emotional barrier holding you back from trying something or to do something and just you, and you’re only here for a short amount of time. And life always throws you curveballs, but you gotta just get through it.
Bill Gasiamis 36:54
Is the pain that you experienced now after stroke, different from, say, the pain before stroke, when you were going to the gym, pumping iron, running, doing whatever. I know that kind of pain as well. It’s a, I hate this pain, but at the end, it’s really good pain, you know, like it’s okay going to the gym. Now for me, I’ve actually stopped going to the gym probably the last four months, because every time I was going, I was causing not an injury, but I was causing something to occur where my muscles weren’t recovering.
Bill Gasiamis 37:33
I was just aggravating things and making it tighter and tenser, more tone, more painful, more annoying, and the fun of going to the gym like went away, because I was never coming, I was never recovering and going back recovered. What’s it like for you to experience this version of your body, going to the gym, training, and all that kind of stuff, compared to the previous version?
Adam Jackson 38:01
It’s a lot harder, obviously. Again, as you said, like your muscles, especially on your affected side, your muscles tighten and the tone just kicks in, and there’s no way of actually stopping that at that time. Like you can stretch, but it doesn’t, you can’t stretch properly. So you know that pain is there all the time. I find acupuncture works wonders to release that tension and that time.
Adam Jackson 38:34
And I suppose that again has helped me know, keeping up with my allied health professionals and those appointments to, actually, and FE is the same, you know, dry needling my right arm to, you know, release some of that attention. But again, it’s either don’t do anything, and then all those gains sort of slip away. Because if I don’t move my right arm or use my right arm, it just it’ll be it just wasted away. So I have to go to the gym to give us something like to move it, and to do those sorts of things. And my leg, I suppose it’s the same. Hope I don’t do it, sort of, yes, yeah, I need to do it.
Bill Gasiamis 39:28
You need to do it regardless. You gotta push through the pain, even though it’s harder than before.
Adam Jackson 39:34
Yeah, definitely, yeah.
Bill Gasiamis 39:37
That’s maybe what I want to hear, what I wanted to hear you say, so that, like I know what I’ve gotta do, and maybe other people that are listening understand as well that it’s harder, but it’s probably more important than it’s ever been.
Adam Jackson 39:58
Exactly, and I think, with the pain like, obviously, I’m probably an extreme version of spending two or three hours at the gym five or six days a week. You don’t need to do that to get, you know, to keep that I’m doing that for my fitness and for my athletic endeavors, whereas most people, you don’t need to do that. You just need to move that up, or you just don’t need to go to those extremes.
Bill Gasiamis 40:35
You just gotta get moving. You gotta get the you gotta get the muscle activated. There’s no way I’m doing three hours of gym a day, mate, no chance. It doesn’t matter how much spare time I have. I was very happy to go in. And this is the good thing about what you just said. It’s true, I was very happy to go in when my body was responding the way that I wanted it to, maybe for 30 minutes, 45 minutes every second day. Yep, and that was it. Because what that meant that I got to see people and meet people who I haven’t seen for two or three days.
Bill Gasiamis 41:12
You know, we get to talk a little bit about what you get up to, kind of stuff, a little bit of trash, a little bit of sport update about your team, and then push some weights around, you know, get the blood pumping, get the endorphins running, get all of the neuro transmitters happening and then feel a little bit exhausted, and then go back and recover. And it was part, it was a good part of a routine that created, yes, only good things, yes, and even when I was going and I wasn’t recovering well.
Bill Gasiamis 41:48
And I had some problems with my muscles and that it was still it, even then it was still good to go the community aspect of it and all that stuff was still worth it, but at some point it gets to the stage of “Okay, if I’m going to, and this is the other real important point I want to make, if you’re going to be injuring yourself going to the gym, you just need to find a way to go without injuring yourself and without making the deficits impossible.” And then just find a way I decreased my weight so my the guy who set up my sessions.
Advice for Stroke Survivors
Bill Gasiamis 42:32
My Monday and my Wednesday sessions, what I was going to do. My program initially had me kind of lifting more and more weights and getting heavier and heavier, and I’m like, I don’t need to lift lift heavier weights. I just need to lift weights just so that I can keep the bone strength, so I can keep the muscles growing, the blood flowing, all that kind of stuff, so I can create new neurons. It’s a very different reason why I was going to the gym now, exactly as opposed to when I had previously been to the gym.
Bill Gasiamis 43:06
So I still encourage people to go, and even though it might be hard and difficult, just find the just find yourself doing the exercises that are easy for you to do that you can resist some decent amount of weight, yeah, and the ones that are a little harder, just decrease the weight and get somebody to support you or assist you with those particular sets or reps. Yeah, it’s so important, but you’ve taken it to the next level. I mean, this is, why did you just go to the gym? Why didn’t you just go and train and run and not worry about competing?
Adam Jackson 43:50
Well, I did for the first four years, pretty much. And I remember, like the people that are worried about going to the gym at the start, I did not want to go to the gym because of my death deficits. You know, you always worry about people looking at you funny or wondering what’s wrong with you, and have those conversations. And a lot of people, I was the same, you know, don’t want to have those conversations with white strangers going I had a stroke. This arm doesn’t work. I’m trying to, you just, you want to be left alone, and I suppose that’s the main reason why.
Adam Jackson 44:26
For those four years, I just was doing it for myself and my family to get better. And it was my wife who suggested applying for Invictus. I suppose that’s was the catalyst to push me to compete, to go harder than I have before, to try and see what, see what I can do. See what this body can do, 44 now, trying to represent Australia in a sport at the Paralympics or in the World Cups, or whatever it is, but trying to achieve something that I would never have thought I could achieve. I might not get that, but that’s fine, because now you’ll have that goal, and you just gotta keep trying.
Bill Gasiamis 45:17
Just to achieve great things if you don’t get there. So, aim for the stars, no problem. You’ll get somewhere pretty high up, man, it’ll be fantastic. So with your leg, do you use an AFO?
Adam Jackson 45:34
No.
Bill Gasiamis 45:35
Okay, so no AFO. Now you still look pretty fit, right? You look pretty fit, your arm doesn’t respond or isn’t working at the moment, is that right?
Adam Jackson 45:46
No, it works. It’s just my hand.
Bill Gasiamis 45:49
It’s just your hand.
Adam Jackson 45:50
Like, yeah, totally, from my knee elbow down, it’s sort of weaker, but he’s my elbow up.
Bill Gasiamis 46:00
Still got some decent muscle tone there. How do you use your hand? How do you support it to go through the exercise? Exercise regime?
Adam Jackson 46:11
I have an active hand. Do you know what that is?
Bill Gasiamis 46:16
No.
Adam Jackson 46:18
My wife will grab it for you. So it basically helps me hold on to stuff. It’s an absolute, well, it’s a game changer. So that’s looks weird at the moment, but basically it goes over again and then all Bell code, you just drop it on your wrist, and then goes around and around to hold on to a bar or whatever it is. See, you don’t really need your grip strings to go to the gym, usually does it for you.
Bill Gasiamis 46:55
Strap, tightens your fingers around the bar, and then, as you pull it down and velcro it. It just holds your hand in the right position and supports it.
Adam Jackson 47:04
Yep, it’s good. It’s like I said, it’s been invaluable. Because if I didn’t have that, this wouldn’t be possible, because it just depend on my strength. Then has a lot of stroke survivors, don’t concentrate on that hand, it just releases. It’s stupid. You know, rehab where you gotta hold on to something and walk like you drop it, because you keep concentrating on walking or doing something else, and your hand is open.
Bill Gasiamis 47:35
So know all about that, right? So, yeah, I was climbing a scaffold at work, in May. And the reason we had the scaffold there was for safety purposes to make sure that we reached the heights of the particular building we were painting, without anyone falling off a ladder and getting injured. So I’m climbing up the from the ground, I’m climbing up the ladder to get to the first stage of the scaffolding where the platform was, and as I was climbing up, my left hand it just literally let go, and I hadn’t quite put my right hand on the next rung yet, and my left hand let go.
Bill Gasiamis 48:19
And I fell backwards, and I smashed my back on a horizontal bar, metal bar of the scaffold and then fell another meter down to the ground and hit the ground with my back, injured my ribs, bruised my back, and all that kind of stuff. Couldn’t sleep properly for about three weeks, I was getting massages once a week, trying to release it and get it going and it’s just exactly what you just said, happened it for no reason. Just let go because I wasn’t paying attention to or focusing or looking up, or, you know, thinking about the next getting on the on the scaffold platform.
Bill Gasiamis 49:04
It just let go, and it was scary. And the thing about that is, at the gym, it never happened at the gym. When I was at the gym, it never, yeah, let go. But I always had that weakness, the left side weakness, so if I was doing free weights, I for the first I went to the gym for about 18 months, and the first six months I completely avoided freeway, so just use the machines. And then my chiropractor said “Maybe you should use free weights, decrease the weight, so that you can reactivate the arm and the bicep and the tricep.”
Bill Gasiamis 49:41
So, that it’s doing the exercise without assistance, so that you can train it, to rehabilitate it. And it’s like “Yeah, but I’m afraid I’ll drop it.” And he said “Well, then just you do lighter weights and then that’ll be fine.” And it was actually fine. But my left side would save the reps. So if the repetitions were 12 or 15, you know, my right side would get there and it’d be no sweat, and be like “Yeah, okay, we can at that weight.”
Bill Gasiamis 50:16
We can do more than 12 or 15, but my left side would be going at 10 and be going, man, you’ve had enough. You know that’s enough. Stop, and the last two would be burning. What do you feel like when you do your exercises? What is your right side feel like?
Adam Jackson 50:34
So again, I’ve, from the start, have always trained both sides equal for that exact reason. You don’t want a massive, massive arm and of the tiny little arm. So I’ve always trained anything. It’s not the same. Obviously, I get some pull or some twists, like chest area. It’s pretty good now, like I said, because I’ve been training four years now, like all that pull-down I couldn’t do at the start. Now I can, looks normal.
Adam Jackson 51:15
A lot of people who saw me training at the gym, apart from my active end on, like and they wouldn’t know that you know to have a stroke, they’re just because it looks pretty much normal. But again, that’s taken a lot of effort time to get to that point. And again, I train with lower weights on my right side so that they’re both, they use them.
The Mental and Physical Benefits of Training
Bill Gasiamis 51:46
And for you previously, going to the gym, previously, I know it’s for fitness and to keep in shape and all that kind of stuff, but it was, was it also about like pushing yourself to see how hard you can go. And now is it more just about the training, part of it, literally just keeping yourself fit and healthy? Like has it shifted the purpose, the reason you go to the gym because you’ve gone for a long time?
Adam Jackson 52:13
Yeah, I think the purpose hasn’t changed. Because I love the gym, I love the community, but it’s, it’s about doing something for yourself that you love, you know, I can jump on a bike, or I can jump on the indoor row or whatever. I don’t know. It’s just, I find peace in the gym being by myself. I don’t really train with anyone like I’ve got like personal trainer that I train with. But apart from that, at the gym, it’s just me. And again, it’s the alone time to be with your thoughts. But for me, it’s just that not, I wouldn’t say relaxing, because it’s not relaxing, but you de-stress.
Adam Jackson 53:05
You get rid of that anxiety that those troubling thoughts that you might have, or whatever it is, but you just put that to side, to the side, and all you’re thinking about is the training that you’re doing. So me to have that focus. Yes, my goal has changed, but the reason I go to the gym hasn’t.
Bill Gasiamis 53:30
So it sounds like you get mental clarity or some kind of mental support there. By that, I mean like you get out of your head, because you have to be.
Adam Jackson 53:42
Yep, exactly, yeah.
Bill Gasiamis 53:45
Tell me, Adam, what’s the hardest thing about stroke for you, though.
Adam Jackson 53:54
Probably not being who I was before. But then I suppose that’s a good thing. I again, like I said, I’ve always been a positive person. So, like my stroke happened on my right side of the affected, but I’m a left handed, so, I always try and find the positives in the negative. So, yeah, it’s hard.
Bill Gasiamis 54:25
Yeah, what has stroke taught you?
Adam Jackson 54:31
That you’re stronger than you think you are, that you know there’s other people out there that have the worst than you. I suppose it’s like for me, like I said, you know you’re stronger than you think you are, and you know you will get through this. I think the hardest thing for me at the hospital was, and because a lot of older people have strokes. Well, it affects every age.
Adam Jackson 55:09
But in the rehab or there’s a lot of older people when they’re going through the same rehab I was going through, and for them, it’s, you know, it’s nearly impossible. And that’s for me, it was heartbreaking to see because again, they’re really lovely people. You talk to them on a daily basis, and they’re struggling a lot harder than you are. But again, it comes back to everyone’s going through a different journey.
Adam Jackson 55:41
And the only thing that you can help is by supporting them, whether that’s through just talking to them or sitting there listening to what they say, and they’re just being there for people like that. Because I hate this is going to sound ridiculous, but I hate that you’ve got it, let’s go, let’s go, like, I hate the support or cheer squad sort of attitude, but again, it has its purpose, especially in like, competitive environment. But again, I’m just sort of focused on what I’m doing to sort of just drown that out, but it’s good to have that Family Support backing you up all the time.
Bill Gasiamis 56:42
The cheer squad type of stuff. Like, what bugs you about that? Why is that an issue?
Adam Jackson 56:51
I think it’s just when you know, like when it’s just me and say, my wife or something, she’s, I mean, she’s my absolute number one supporter, but I actually don’t know what it is. I’d love to ask her what she thinks about it, but I just, I don’t know, because I think I’ve done it for so long on my own. I had basically on my own cheer squad.
Bill Gasiamis 57:20
So maybe you don’t like being given praise or something.
Adam Jackson 57:27
Yeah, something like that, yeah. I as you could probably tell, like, I don’t need that praise now, I’d rather like inspire someone else with my journey. Now it’s not about me, it’s about inspiring my kids to do better, or, you know, other people that don’t think that they can achieve these things you might achieve, like I might not achieve the Paralympics, but I’m going to give it a red hot go, and it’s about the journey. It’s about just seeing where you can go and pushing yourself to where you took further than you think you can go.
Bill Gasiamis 58:10
Fair enough. There’s a ton of people listening that are stroke survivors, maybe considered going to the gym, maybe they have been afraid of going to the gym, who knows what. But what do you want to say to say to people who are listening, who are not quite where you’re at with the whole exercise fitness, the importance of that like, what do you want to just let people know?
Adam Jackson 58:37
Well, I started walking my girls to school. That’s where I started this journey after I left hospital was, you know, because we lived okay, like a one kilometer from school. So walking to the school every day, picking them up every day, that’s how I started this. And just like you said at the start, like just getting out and about, getting that, the fresh air, the sunlight, the rain, whatever it is. Again, it’s a story, and it’s a journey, that’s where I started, and then I just increased my strength, my stamina, what I could do wasn’t easy.
Adam Jackson 59:23
Like I said at the start, I couldn’t do a like, a lap, like a lot of the exercises at the gym, because my right side was so weak, and I had to build my shoulder back up because it wasted away while I was in hospital. It’s taken me a long time to get back to this where I am now. And that sounds like a long time, but you just take it one step at a time, like I said, I started off walking, and then I started trying to run, going back to the gym, which I didn’t really want to do, but if you go into the gym, they should have that community there.
Adam Jackson 1:00:03
And again, like I know at home, there’s a lot of adaptive athletes out there, or adaptive gyms, where they’re super supportive and they know how to help stroke survivors, if you’ve got a deficit. They know how to help that, I know there’s a lot of Prospect gyms that do the same, just to give you that community of like people that are like you. It may not be a stroke survivor, there might be, paraplegics or quadriplegics, but whatever it is, there’s these communities out there.
Adam Jackson 1:00:40
You just got to find one that suits you and welcomes you and where you’re happy to train where you’re happy to just push, not push yourself, but just to get out there and get out of your own or converse with people, to have that community to sort of bring you out of your shell and and to know that you’re not this broken person. You’re actually a beautiful person that you know has to live like that’s what it’s about. Your life is there for living, not for hiding away in some dark corner and whatever that is for you, not, obviously, not everyone wants to be an elite athlete.
Adam Jackson 1:01:37
It might be to do a 5k run with their kids, or whatever it is, but, you know, you’ve just got to have that goal. Well, doesn’t matter how long it takes you to get to that goal as well. Like, it might be walk 500 meters and then walk a K or whatever it is, lift a 10 kilo dumbbell, whatever it is, you know, you have those goals and work up to work, doesn’t matter how long it takes you to get there, you can, it’s good.
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Bill Gasiamis 1:02:12
Yeah. I like that, start small, walking the kids around, taking them to school, that’s it, tore than enough, perfect, and then from there, it seems like from there, you know, your level of difficulty increased just because your fitness increased, just because your ability increased, and that’s the way forward is like just increasing the level of difficulty really small incremental steps so that.
Adam Jackson 1:02:41
Yeah, exactly.
Bill Gasiamis 1:02:42
You can get there easily and not injure yourself and not fail and have just maybe you’ll have some minor setbacks, but no massive blowouts or no massive failures.
Adam Jackson 1:02:53
Exactly, yeah.
Bill Gasiamis 1:02:55
Mate, I really appreciate you reaching out and connecting, and I’m glad that we met through Effie. She’s an amazing person, and I love the attitude that she applies to rehabilitation and stroke recovery. I think thinking a little next level is great. I’m going to have links to her organization in the show notes, just in case somebody wants to go there and check it out. She’s in Australia, so most of the listeners and people watching are not going to be able to benefit from Effie, but the organization that she helped, co found, is really amazing.
Bill Gasiamis 1:03:40
I wish you well man, thank you so much for sharing your story. Congratulations on your journey so far, and best of luck with all of your sports, events and yeah, man, hopefully you get some medals.
Adam Jackson 1:04:03
Cool. Thank you very much.
Bill Gasiamis 1:04:05
That brings us to the end of this incredible episode with Adam Jackson. His journey from surviving two strokes, one while serving in Afghanistan and the other 10 years later to becoming an adaptive sports competitor is a powerful reminder that recovery is a continuous process, and it’s never too late to push your limits. Before we wrap up, I want to give a heartfelt thank you to my Patreon supporters, your contributions help keep this podcast running, ensuring that stroke survivors worldwide have access to these resources.
Bill Gasiamis 1:04:39
If you’d like to support the podcast and help make it accessible to others. You can find out more at patreon.com/recoveryafterstroke. And remember, even if you’re not in a position to contribute financially, simply listening to the ads without skipping them is a great way to help every little bit, makes a difference and keeps this podcast going strong. Your engagement on YouTube, Spotify and iTunes is also hugely appreciated.
Bill Gasiamis 1:05:08
If today’s episode inspired you, please consider leaving a five-star rating on Spotify or iTunes or giving it a like and a comment on YouTube. Your support helps others find this podcast and join the growing community. Make sure to keep up with Adam’s progress journey and follow his progress in adaptive sports, and remember to explore the resources available at recoveryafterstroke.com, for more insights and support. Thank you again for tuning in, and I’ll see you in the next episode.
Intro 1:05:42
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Intro 1:06:12
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Intro 1:06:37
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Intro 1:07:03
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