Mum's post-birth headaches turned out to be blood clot

A woman who suffered a stroke aged 26 - two weeks after giving birth - has told how it "broke her heart" to be unable to hold her newborn baby.

Paige Carr gave birth to her daughter Isla in July 2025 and soon began experiencing headaches, which she initially thought were because of a sinus infection and "nothing to worry about".

One day, however, her vision became hazy and she lost all movement in her right arm and leg.

Paige, who lives in Merseyside with her partner Jon, 28, was rushed to hospital, where it was revealed she had suffered a stroke, caused by a blood clot in her brain.

The stroke also caused swelling behind her eyes and she had emergency surgery the following month which doctors said was necessary to prevent her going blind.

Paige, who is also mother to Lucas, three, and Jessica, one, as well as the now 10-month-old Isla, still suffers with day-to-day fatigue.

A service desk team leader, she said: "The baby was only a couple of weeks old after the stroke, and I didn't even have the energy to hold her, normally I'd be cuddling her the whole time.

"It broke my heart, and I'll never get that time back with her."

When the "mild" headaches began, Paige simply took painkillers and "did not think too much of it".

But it was during a family trip to Delamere Forest in Cheshire on 10 August 2025 that things took a more serious turn, with Paige noticing her vision beginning to deteriorate.

She said: "It almost felt like when you've been sat in the sun and then you go inside and everything's dark and you can't see properly.

"But I'd been outside all day so didn't think much of it – it just felt weird."

When she and Jon returned home a few hours later, Paige found herself "bumping into the walls" inside her house.

Her mother took her to a walk-in centre later that day, where staff also suspected a sinus infection and prescribed antibiotics.

Jon collected the prescription the following morning, but Paige said she was "throwing up everywhere" after taking the first dose.

Her mother, who has a medical background, then took her to A&E at Arrowe Park Hospital in Birkenhead, where she said she was advised to continue with the antibiotics and give them time to "kick in".

She said: "The next day, I got in the shower and felt OK, then when I got out, I couldn't use my right arm at all – I couldn't move it, it felt completely numb."

Her mum took her back to Arrowe Park and, during the walk from the car park to the hospital, Paige said she lost all movement and feeling in her right leg.

She was not displaying some of the more commonly recognised stroke symptoms, such as slurred speech and face drooping, but a scan revealed the blood clot in her brain which followed on from a pulmonary embolism - a blockage of an artery in her lung.

"I was completely out of it at that point, I just wanted to sleep," Paige said. "I couldn't really understand that I'd had a stroke."

Paige was admitted to the stroke ward, where she believes she was the youngest patient.

She said: "I felt like I was in the wrong place – it felt so surreal, and I think age was on my side in terms of the recovery."

On the ward, she said she was treated with blood thinners and painkillers and, after around 24 hours, she began to wiggle her toes and regained some movement in her hands.

Paige was able to go home the following day.

Despite being able to leave hospital, she struggled mentally as she was usually a "hands-on mum" and she had to use a wheelchair when "out and about" as her leg was weak.

"I just wanted to give all my kids my full attention, but it was so hard," she said.

Follow on treatment, including the procedure to relieve swelling behind her eyes, meant Paige was "devastated" still to be in hospital on the morning of her daughter Jessica's first birthday on 3 September.

She said: "I was just sobbing because I was going to miss it – I was on the phone to Jon telling him where to put the balloons and everything."

Since then, Paige has attended follow-up appointments and said her condition now appears stable.

But she said the effects of her stroke are not always visible.

"There are still some days where I'm just exhausted – I have really bad fatigue since having the stroke," she said.

"I don't tend to talk to people about the stroke. I haven't really sat down with Jon and spoken about how it all feels to me.

"I'm going to start counselling through work once I go back – my main focus is looking after the kids at the moment and making up for the time I missed with the baby."

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