Barnsley teen inspired to study farming after suffering stroke

BBC News

4 days ago

A teenager who had a stroke when she was 13 said her physical recovery has been helped by her new passion for farming.Neive, now 17, had to relearn how to walk and speak after the right side of her body was left partially paralysed.She spent time with horses while she was staying at a recovery centre, which she said she found "calming," and was inspired to continue working with animals.Neive has now begun studying agriculture at Barnsley College, with dreams of becoming a dairy farmer, and said: "My love for animals and nature has motivated me and has helped my recovery by keeping me calm."
Neive, from Huddersfield, was born with an arteriovenous malformation - a tangle of blood vessels that creates irregular connections between arteries and veins - in her brain.She did not know about the condition until it led to a sudden bleed on her brain during her first week studying at Shelley College in Huddersfield."I had just finished netball and I was waiting for the bus to go home," she said."I felt really weird, something was happening."When I got on the bus, my leg went and I couldn't walk on it and my arm and hand went and I couldn't speak. I was so confused."Neive was originally treated at Calderdale Royal Hospital before being placed in an induced coma and taken to Leeds General Infirmary, where surgeons operated on the bleed.
Months of gruelling rehabilitation followed, including speech therapy and physiotherapy.Neive's mum Abi said it was an "incredibly difficult time" for the family."We never knew whether she'd ever fully recover or not," she said."She was eventually allowed to come home at weekends in a wheelchair."I had to inject her with blood thinners."It was during an extended period of therapy in Surrey that Neive said she took "comfort" from spending time with the horses at the site."I found it really calming, I just loved being around them," she said.
Neive has now begun studying for her Level 2 Agriculture certificate and said: "It's a dream come true to be studying something I love so much."After missing three years of school, I was so worried I wouldn't be able to achieve it."Emily Smith, from the department at the college, said Neive was "an absolute trooper"."There are no limitations to agriculture, she's a grafter and the drive is what you need," she said."It's phenomenal where she's come from and we're so proud of her."
Building up her physical strength and co-ordination on the course has been a huge boost, Neive said.She has learned to write using her left hand instead of her right and admitted that the speed of some aspects of her recovery was "frustrating"."My speech is not back fully. It's slower. I just want to talk normally. It used to make me angry and upset but I understand it now," she said.But life studying at the college's Wigfield Farm campus has become her "happy place," she said."It's like therapy for me, especially the cows and sheep."They're so calming and they don't talk back. Not so much the pigs," she joked."I'm proud of how far I've come. I didn't think I'd get to this position."I'm happy again."
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