My name is Pat Cole.
I'm 73 in a minute.
I live in Okehampton.
I had my stroke on 5 May, about seven years ago.
I was on a bike in the gym and all of a sudden
when I pushed down with my right foot, nothing happened at all.
I thought, what on earth is wrong with it?
I went to get off in the normal way
and in fact fell off because the right side of my body
didn't work at all.
I never lost my power of speech, which my wife says is unfortunate,
but there you go.
I was allotted to go to a hospital once a week for an hour's physio.
After about, I guess four or five sessions, she said,
'Well, Mr Cole, that's you'.
At the time I was more or less in a wheelchair,
just able to totter about on the Zimmer but not very much more.
I was sent home and told that was my lot for the rest of my days.
When I got back I said to Jenny,
'Well I'm not at all happy with that'.
I was and still am profoundly unhappy with a Zimmer frame.
That was the beginning of my adventure into what I've done since.
My main form of exercise became swimming.
I wanted some form of exercise to strengthen this arm
and regain full movement.
So that was one particular goal.
This arm still didn't work.
So everything I did was very one-sided.
Then I thought one day, good heavens, I'm swimming.
I felt the freedom of moving my arm
and certainly my feet aided by the buoyancy of the water,
it has increased the use of my right arm beyond all measure.
My toes now work occasionally which is good.
I wished I could say they work all the time,
but they're very good in the water, when I kick.
I swim usually 40 lengths at a time and I swim three or four days a week.
Shortly after the swimming
I thought I'd like to try some more with my body
if I could possibly do it.
Initially when I started
I was very insecure on a Zimmer frame,
and I figured that I could go into the gym
provided they would help me on and off the machinery.
I’ve been working with Pat must be around a year and a half now probably.
When he first started he was really struggling to walk,
really struggling to get any movement above shoulder height with his arms.
The biggest improvement I've seen in Pat is definitely his walking,
especially going from someone who can barely walk without a Zimmer frame,
now he can do a few steps without a Zimmer frame altogether
which, obviously, the end goal is to try and walk entirely without that.
The benefits of doing exercise for someone like Pat
is definitely being able to give him confidence is the main one.
Showing him that he can do these things
and showing him he can improve, even though he thinks he can't.
Also there is benefit of the heart obviously,
get his heart strong because he hasn't done exercise for so long,
getting him regularly doing a little bit of cardio obviously in the pool
and in the gym is going to help.
It has to be a routine, it has to be stuck to.
It has to be carried on with, even if sometimes you get beyond despair,
you dust yourself down and go again the next day.
I hate squats with an all-consuming passion.
Mostly because it hurts so much, but it's necessary
because I'm trying to build up the muscles in the top part of my thighs.
If one day I am going to walk, which I will do,
I do need that part of my legs to be very strong.
I love it.
I really, really, really love it.
My wife said, don't you get bored, no, I don't.
Not only does it help me physically
but my outlook on life is so much better.
I feel at the end of it I've done a really, really good workout.
I'm quite pleased with myself that I've achieved that.
I feel also with a Zimmer frame,
okay, what is it - a bit of aluminium which is about 12 inches across.
To me it's like a bloody brick wall.
I cherish the hope that one day I shall walk again.
I'm totally convinced that at the end of it all,
I will be maybe not 100% but hopefully 90%
of what I was beforehand.