A lucky ESCAPE

A shopping trip for presents ended in terror for Christina Surgey, 46, and her husband, Tony

- Kara O'neill

Wandering around Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield, Christina Surgey, then 39, and her husband, Tony, 45, just had one thing left to tick off their list.

It was December 2012, and they’d been Christmas shopping for most of the day, starting in the Disney Store to pick up a cuddly Minnie Mouse toy for their daughter, Emma, seven. The couple, laden with bags, just needed to stop off in a card shop for gift wrap and they were done.

Christina was already thinking about where they’d be going for dinner to celebrate a successful day’s shopping as Tony stood at the counter paying for the last of their bits.

‘It was as I was half-daydreaming, standing slightly behind Tony, that I realised he was slumping to the side,’ Christina remembers.

When Christina asked Tony if he was OK, and he turned to face her, she noticed a change in his face.

‘The left side of his mouth had dropped and his speech was slurred.’

One of the shop assistants grabbed Tony a chair while the other called an ambulance.

‘I could tell immediately that he was having a stroke,’ Christina says.

Amazingly, she managed to remain calm as her husband, who was conscious but confused, was wheeled into an ambulance.

At the hospital, Tony – who by now was paralysed on his left side – was whisked away for an MRI scan.

‘That’s when I started to get really scared,’ Christina says. ‘I know I made some calls – to my mum, Sue, then 66, to tell her what had happened and ask her if she could have Emma for the night. But I don’t remember doing any of it.’

For Christina, most of the night was spent waiting in corridors and family rooms, while countless tests were carried out on Tony.