A West Yorkshire man thought he was closing his eyes to go to sleep - and woke up three months later

Basil, now 64, had in fact had a stroke and did not regain consciousness for a lengthy period. Almost eight years later, he is keen to make people aware of stroke symptoms by sharing his harrowing experience.

"I can remember it being dark,” he told the Yorkshire Evening Post. “I thought I just closed my eyes to go to sleep for five or 10 minutes - it ended up being three months. I woke up in Pinderfields Hospital on the stroke ward.”

Basil, of Castleford, was driving home from a friend’s house in June 2015 when he started to experience stroke symptoms. He lost use of an arm and a leg and lost his vision completely.

“I was coming back from a friend's house, it just went blank and I couldn't see anything,” he explained. “I thought 'this is strange - there's no cars on the road'. I didn't realise I'd lost my sight.

"It came back after about 10 seconds or so. When I tried getting out of the car, my arm wouldn't work but I thought it was just a dead arm. My leg didn't work either.

"I crawled to the front door, somehow, I don't know how, and got myself into the house. I can't remember much after that point. I can remember being on the floor in the living room and my arm wouldn't move and my leg wouldn't move. I thought 'I need to call for help'. Somehow, I don't know how, I called for help.”

Waking up after three months had gone by proved distressing for Basil, who was left with a “blank in his life”. He said: “No words can describe it. It's just a blank in your life.

"There's no memory at all to cover it - it's distressing to think about it There's nothing I can do to get that memory back. It's gone - it's a blank in my life. When I woke up, I was quite fearful because I didn't know where I was or what had happened. I didn't realise I'd had a stroke until I got it explained to me.”

Basil had to stop working as a result of the stroke and is still undergoing therapy to get his arm back in working condition. He is now keen for people to be aware of stroke symptoms and seek medical advice if they are at high risk of a stroke like he was.

According to the NHS, stroke incidence is higher in some ethnic minority groups. Basil said: “Little did I know, I was on a high-risk list because of my background, I never used to go to the doctors.”

As part of NHS England’s ‘Help Us, Help You’ Act F.A.S.T. campaign, a new series of portraits have been released featuring stroke survivors and the people who saved them by recognising signs and calling 999. More information about the Act F.A.S.T campaign can be found online.