Boy, 7, unable to speak after suffering stroke on football pitch

A little boy was unable to move or speak after suffering a sudden stroke on the football pitch – leaving him with blood clots on the brain.

Louie Clark, seven, was at football practice when he suddenly began feeling dizzy and started vomiting on February 24.

By the time he got home, Louie had lost the use of his legs and was unable to talk, prompting his parents, Ben, 36, and Lindsey, 35, to rush him to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Tests and scans revealed Louie had suffered a stroke and he was transferred to Leeds

Louie’s operations were a success and he is now working with physiotherapists to regain his speech and movement – which he lost the majority of down the right side of his body.

In the weeks before the stroke, Louie complained of a brief period of dizziness and blurred vision – which doctors now believe could have been ‘warning strokes’.

A fundraiser has been launched by Liam Charles, Louie’s football coach, to support the family financially while the schoolboy recovers.

Dad Ben, a finished products assistant, from Knottingley, Yorkshire said: ‘It’s been a terrible week as you can imagine but for me personally I don’t think it’s really hit me yet.

‘It has helped in a way that I’ve got three other boys at home – Jordan, 14, Dylan, 12 and Ethan, four – the importance of keeping a routine for them has kept me on autopilot in a way. Lindsey has been rock solid to be fair.’

Louie suffered from the stroke on February 24, but had suffered from symptoms in the week before.

While he was at football practice, Louie complained of dizziness and blurred vision, which cleared within 10 minutes.

Ben said: ‘One of the clots that they removed was around his vision area of the brain. So they’re not saying it’s definite but there’s a very high chance he was having a warning stroke.

‘But if a seven-year-old old says to you he has blurry vision in one eye, we book an eye appointment for him, and then 10 minutes later he’s up playing football again. They’re at that age where they can bend the truth a little bit.

‘So that’s why I want to raise awareness. Strokes in children are more common than you think, according to doctors, but for the general public, everyone I’ve spoken to doesn’t know anyone who’s had a stroke.”

Ben and Lindsey say doctors are confident Louie will regain speech and movement but it may take a number of months.

Ben said: ‘After the first surgery, it was showing signs of the swelling on his brain becoming worse so he had to undergo a second operation to remove part of his skull to reduce the swelling.

‘Luckily, he pulled that through that op and the swelling got better and he’s now on the neurological ward. He’s the only child in here who’s had a stroke but doctors are over the moon with him at the minute.

‘He’s slowly but surely understanding that he can talk again but without opening his mouth – his brain can’t tell his lips and his tongue to move. They’re pretty confident that the speech and movement will come back but we’ve been told it might take a few months.’

To support Louie and his family with the recovery, his football coach Liam has launched a fundraiser – which has so far raised over £4,500.

Liam said: ‘He’s brilliant. I’ve coached him since he was five and he’s genuinely one of the most talented and skillfully gifted kids I’ve seen.

‘He’s such a likeable little kid – I’ve never seen a kid obsessive over football as much as him. We’re unsure on the full extent of damage so I wanted to get ahead of that and ease any financial burden for them. I just want to get in front of them and have funds ready and available.

‘The ideal for me within a couple of months, he’s back to full health and they can have a dream trip, but we just don’t want them to worry about financials. My friends and I are also going to be doing the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge (26 miles) for Louie.’

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