Baby helps young stroke victim in quest to walk and talk once more

A man who was crippled by a devastating stroke just days after becoming a father is being inspired to walk and talk again – by learning beside his baby daughter.

Mark Ellis, 23, was rushed to hospital after collapsing at work last August, having previously thought his dizziness and headache was a migraine, and his shocked wife Amy, 31, was told he was unlikely to survive.

He bravely pulled through although the family had to move to a specially-converted bungalow and Amy had to give up her hairdressing job to look after her disabled husband and one-year-old daughter Lola-Rose.

But now Mr Ellis is being inspired to speak and walk again. His speech therapist has encouraged him to make similar noises to the toddler in a bid to communicate and he is also taking one step at a time together with her as they both learn to walk.

Mark can currently manage 20 paces with the aid of a frame and Lola-Rose can muster 10 paces before falling over.

Mrs Ellis said: “It’s wonderful to see. There’s such a bond between them.”

When he was released from hospital in March the previously healthy father could only communicate by rolling his eyes after suffering a blood clot in his brain stem which doctors described as the worst that they had ever seen in such a young man.

Mr Ellis, communicating with the aid of the “Speak-It” app on his i-Phone which vocalises text messages, said: “My body felt empty in hospital, I couldn’t move at all.

“But my wife and especially my daughter came to see me every day and I wanted to be able to do more and be a part of their lives.”