'Having a stroke has changed me completely'

Veteran BBC presenter Mike Sweeney has spoken about the fear he felt while having what turned out to be a stroke at work earlier this year.

Sweeney, 78, a long-time DJ on BBC Radio Manchester spoke about his experience as part of the station's Stop a Stroke campaign.

He said he first started feeling "uncomfortable" while travelling to Newcastle to do interviews for BBC One's Morning Live in January, but carried on working all the following day despite feeling progressively more ill.

"We came to the end of the interviews and I thought, thank goodness that's finished. I said to my producer I don't feel great, I don't know what's up with me," he said.

Mike Sweeney has presented on BBC Radio Manchester for 12 years

"I didn't know this but he was looking at me and he later said I looked really ill."

Sweeney said he agreed to go to the local hospital where he became so poorly that he could not stand up without his producer's support.

He said: "I started to feel really odd and I remember thinking it would be really nice to go to sleep. I wanted to almost physically fold in on myself.

"At that moment then, I felt fear. And if I'm honest, I think I said to my producer: I think I'm going here, please help me.

"I find it really emotional now to say, please help me. I've never asked for help in my life."

'Changed me completely'

Despite not having had any of the conventional symptoms such as slurred speech or face drooping, Sweeney said the doctor told him he had had a "tiny stroke", more formally knows as a transient ischaemic attack.

"If it had punched me in the face I wouldn't have felt any less disturbed," he said.

He has now made an effort to reduce stress in a bid to lower his blood pressure - a major risk factor for stroke, along with high cholesterol levels.

Sweeney continued: "Psychologically, it has changed me completely."

Despite initially being hesitant to speak about his experience, Sweeney said he had decided to open up in the hope that his experience could help others.

He said: "I would say if you're feeling that you're having a "funny turn" then there is something wrong because we don't have funny turns.

"You need to check yourself out. This can happen to you.

"If it can happen to me, not just at my age, it can happen to anybody that's fit, strong, healthy and has a good lifestyle."