The theme for 2016’s national Brain Injury Awareness Week – 15th to 21st August – is young stroke. Brain Injury Australia and National Stroke Foundation – in association with the Stroke Recovery Association of New South Wales and the Stroke Association of Victoria – teamed up to plan a series of awareness-raising events and activities, including the Week’s national launch to be held in Melbourne on Monday, August 15th. The event invitation is here.

160 young people living with stroke, their families, service providers, policymakers and researchers came to the national launch of 2016’s Brain Injury Awareness Week – dedicated to young stroke – at the Melbourne Brain Centre on Monday 15th August.

Unpublished data provided to Brain Injury Australia by the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry reveals that 1 in every 4 strokes – when blood supply to the brain is stopped by a clot or bleeding – now occurs in people aged under 65 years. The third most common cause of death after heart disease and dementia, rates of young stroke are increasing worldwide due to obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Held in partnership with the National Stroke Foundation, speakers at the national launch included young strokes Terry Kennedy, Emma Gee and Emma Gaffey, Dr. Ken Baker AM, CEO of National Disability Services – Australia’s peak body for disability services – whose wife sustained a series of strokes in her early forties that left her without the ability to speak, read, or write, and neurologist Associate Professor Bruce Campbell, Head of Hyperacute Stroke at Royal Melbourne Hospital.

You can view a video of the launch here.

Brain Injury Australia wants to hear from young strokes nationwide about the next steps they want to take towards age-appropriate services and supports. Please contact Brain Injury Australia’s Executive Officer, Nick Rushworth via email – nick.rushworth@braininjuryaustralia.org.au – or call me on 1800 BRAIN1 (1800 272 461).