Stephanie Ho had just completed a double degree at university and landed her dream job as an information technology consultant when she suffered a stroke.
"It was actually a really normal day. I woke up on Saturday morning and I got up and went to the bathroom and I think my mum asked something really trivial like 'how was the night before' and what came out as just absolute nonsensical noise and of course I freaked out."
Her initial thought was she had been the victim of a drink-spiking incident.
"I couldn't figure out what had happened so I then just collapsed at home and luckily my family was there so they were sable to rush me to hospital and then they found I had a really severe stroke from a haemorrhage."
It was a life-changing experience for the then 22-year-old.
"I had the world ahead of me, and out of nowhere and in the blink of an eye, I just couldn't see properly, I was partially blind, I couldn't walk or talk anymore. I couldn't read or spell, and I didn't have any use in my right-hand side or arm or arm. So it was really starting from square one again."
Lisa Murphy - an executive director at the Stroke Foundation - says Stephanie's story highlights the breadth of the age group impacted by stroke.
"Stroke can happen to babies, to children, to young adults as well as older Australians. so it is really important that young people who aren't necessarily aware that they could have a stroke could suffer a stroke."
Click on the audio player to listen to this information in Punjabi.
