TWO Basingstoke women have united to form a new awareness campaign after reading an article published in The Gazette.

In February The Gazette told how Hook businesswoman Michelle Williams, 47, was receiving treatment after being diagnosed with a subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH).

Michelle urged other men and women with the same condition, which affects the brain, to “keep battling the illness” and this struck a chord with Lisa Slaymaker – whose mother sadly passed away after suffering a SAH – so she contacted Michelle.

Since their first meeting, the pair have collaborated to create Head Start – a new community forum hoping to raise awareness of the sudden symptoms of a SAH. 

“I was really pleased when I got her message after she read The Gazette article, but very sorry to hear about her mum,” Michelle said.

“It reinforced to me how lucky I had been, but also how important it is to raise awareness so that people understand the sudden onset symptoms and how important it is to get diagnosis and treatment rapidly."

“It was interesting to discover the parallels between Lisa’s mum’s experience and my own - we had had exactly the same, very sudden symptoms, we went to the same hospitals and the only difference is because my symptoms were recognised and diagnosed quicker, I got emergency surgery in time.”

Lisa’s mother suffered a severe bout of headaches whilst on holiday in Lulworth Cove. 

She was treated for a migraine by doctors but was finally diagnosed with a SAH on May 15, 2012. Less than a month later she passed away.

“When I saw Michelle’s story, I just wanted to tell her how inspiring it was and that I hope she was recovering well,” Lisa explained.

“With these sort of conditions you don’t know much about them until you have been directly affected so "I wanted to tell Michelle that I understood what she was going through," said Lisa.

“After we met a few times we decided that we needed to come up with some sort of support group because there is hardly any awareness for these types of brain diseases."

“Had my mum been diagnosed earlier perhaps she would still be here too, but unfortunately for her it wasn’t the case.”

SAHs often occur without warning and sometimes happens during moments of physical effort or straining - for example when someone is coughing, going to the toilet, lifting something heavy or having sex.

Symptoms for this condition include a sudden agonising headache, a stiff neck, feeling and being sick and a sensitivity to light.

SAHs also account for around 1 in every 20 strokes in the UK.

Head Start is aiming to promote the symptoms of the illness whilst also offering hope for those who know of, or are experiencing similar problems.

“The idea of the campaign is to raise awareness of the condition so that more lives can be saved,” Michelle said.

“We also want to create a national support community so that other survivors can gain inspiration from watching our video blog, and gain encouragement, support and friendship.

“There are already some fantastic online support communities, however survivors of a SAH may suffer different ailments.”

Michelle and Lisa regularly set up events and take part in 10k walks. The duo are now encouraging others to get involved by either joining them on their walks or setting up their own events to talk about the condition.

“Many survivors suffer from insomnia, and I have found walking and being in the fresh air helpful for my rehabilitation.

“Lisa and I feel because of this other survivors will benefit from getting outside and joining us.

“We will encourage survivors in our area and their own to organise their own events to gain support and help one another on their road to recovery.”

To get involved or for more information on Head Startand Michelle and Lisa’s stories visit headtstartukblog.wordpress.com/about/.