RUTH Hector was getting ready to move to Cornwall for a new job as a copywriter when she suffered a stroke in her sleep, aged 30.

At the time she was staying with her parents and the only symptom when she woke up was that her head "felt a bit funny".

It was only when the former BBC Scotland worker tried to get up that she realised something was very wrong.

"I tried to sit up, but my arm was completely dead. Then I tried to stand up but I couldn't because my right leg was dead as well.

"I fell down and got myself to the bedroom door and tried to shout to my parents 'come and help me' but I couldn't talk either - I was talking gobbledegook.

"I could form the words in my head, but they just wouldn't come out of my mouth.

"I was too young to have a stroke and to feel trapped inside my own body was scary and hard to comprehend."

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Her mother called an ambulance and Ms Hector was rushed to the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh where she was identified as a suitable candidate for thrombectomy.

She said: "I made a full recovery within a month. Within a couple of days I could walk and talk again.

"I had one of these walking frame things but I ended up using it to hang my clothes over in my hospital room because I didn't need it anymore."

Six weeks later, in October 2016, she suffered a second stroke while in Forth Valley.

This time, however, no thrombectomy was possible.

"I still don't know why, but I ended up with a lot more disabilities and some of them are going to carry on for life," said Ms Hector.

Now 36, she works part-time from home as a market researcher but has been left unable to drive, has a limp, and struggles with memory problems.

"I remember about two thirds of what I'm told, but if you want me to remember everything you have to tell me a few times.

"I can't write a lot anymore. I used to be very good at creative writing but now I try so hard, but it just doesn't click anymore - I can't get the words out."

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She describes the planned funding cuts to thrombectomy as "bonkers".

"You 'save £7 million', but really you're not saving any money at all because there will be all these people who have strokes without a thrombectomy who end up needing occupational therapy, and physiotherapy, and rehabilitation.

"It costs so much more in the longer term to have a stroke without the thrombectomy."