By John-Paul Holden
It was an effort to spark some festive cheer after their 46-year-old mother suffered a catastrophic stroke.
Stephen Kinnaird vividly remembers returning home with the knowledge that doctors would not be able to save his wife, Justine Hird, following the attack in December 2017.
Inside, daughters Thea and Elsa had been helping their aunt put up a Christmas tree to welcome him back.
“I suppose one of the saddest moments was it being December and everyone was getting ready for Christmas,” said the 49-year-old sales manager, who lives in Pollokshields, Glasgow.
“I had previously gone to Ikea for a tree and, while I was in hospital, the girls had put it together with their aunt.
“When I got home, knowing she was going to die, I came in and they were around the tree. They all said, surprise!... I just remember trying to hide my tears and then went to my room and broke down. And the horrible thing was not knowing what to say to the girls at the time.”
The subsequent months were full of shock and grief for Stephen and his children, now aged 8 and 13.
But they picked themselves up and embarked on a fundraising drive in Justine’s memory which has also highlighted the devastating impact of strokes on younger people.
Yesterday[SATURDAY], they met friends and supporters at Glasgow Green to celebrate the stunning success of their latest venture – a collective trek to generate money for The Stroke Association.
It saw participants team up to run, cycle or walk a distance equal to that between Glasgow and Hong Kong. At the time of going to press, they were on course to smash their cash target of £5,000.
“Originally we were hoping to get to Istanbul and then moved it to Hong Kong, and I think we’ve actually gone past that as well,” said Stephen.
“I think that, if Justine could see what we have done, she would be so proud. And it’s so important in terms of raising awareness of the fact that strokes happen to young people and not just the elderly.”
There had, he added, been “glimpses of hope” for his fit and active wife after she was rushed to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital following her stroke on December 6, 2017.
“I had spoken to her a couple of times that day,” he explained. “I was down in London and had been away a couple of nights.
“She said she had woken up with a sore head, gone to pilates, the sore head cleared, and she went to pick the girls up after school.
“They went to Pollok Park, she felt tired, came home, fed the girls and then felt poorly.”
It was when Justine failed to come out of Elsa’s room, where she had gone to read her a bed-time story, that Thea knew something was wrong.
Her mother, who had fallen asleep, could hardly make it across the hallway after being woken up. She was moaning and not able to speak. Quick-thinking Thea called her father – then on a plane from Heathrow – as well as the emergency services.
But despite the best efforts of doctors, who removed part of her skull in a bid to protect their patient against the worst effects of brain swelling, Justine passed away on December 10.
Stephen said fundraising had been crucial to his recovery from the loss.
“It has helped me to focus,” he explained.
“It has kept me active physically, has helped my mental health and has allowed me to talk openly about everything with the children. The really important thing is that we have been able to share our feelings with each other.”
Andrea Cail, Director Scotland of The Stroke Association, said: “The cause of strokes in younger adults is not always easy to determine, but like all strokes, the effects can be devastating and even fatal, as was the case with Justine.
“We are thrilled with the number of brave and bold fundraising challenges Stephen and his friends have undertaken together.
“Not only have they done this in memory of Justine; they also want to promote the fact strokes happen to younger people and to help those who have had a stroke rebuild their lives again.
“Stephen and his friends have already raised over £18,000 for the charity which is a tremendous sum.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here