How does 45 minutes on BBC Radio 5 Live sound? After a bunch of successful interviews on 5 Live in late 2022 , Different Strokes, the lovely charity for younger stroke survivors were asked back again for a 45-minute special on Nihal Arthanayake’s afternoon show. Nihal’s show is one of the finest shows on the radio, Nihal listens deeply and asks great questions. I was so pleased when they got in touch looking to spend some time exploring young stroke. The producer on the show, Owen Walker, had a stroke himself 5 years ago at the age of 27. We knew some pretty special radio lay ahead…
The broadcast featured Lili and Eilis from Different Strokes‘ community of stroke survivors, Different Strokes CEO Austin WIllett and Paresh Malhotra, a Professor of Clinical Neurology at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
Lili and Eilis, and the actress Sophie Miller Sheen shared their very moving stories of having a stroke while in their 20s. Their experiences prompted calls from Barry and David, two listeners who both recently survived strokes. Nihal handed the show over to the stroke survivors to talk to each other, a small taste of Different Strokes peer support network. Live on air Barry and David got plugged straight into Different Strokes fabulous community of young stroke survivors. For Different Strokes, peer support is hugely important, it’s the bedrock of everything that they do. Stroke survivors tell me again and again that no one understands their experience better than other stroke survivors.
This length of time on BBC Radio 5 Live is a seriously substantial piece of PR for any charity, big or small. I’m looking forward to building on this success with the amazing stroke survivor community that is Different Strokes.
Have a listen in to this fabulous piece of radio
Student journalists land young stroke stories in local and national media
Earlier this year I came across a Sheffield journalism student who was looking for young stroke survivor stories on Twitter. She and a group of students were focussing on young stroke as part of their work in their final year. We engaged with the students, supporting them with their understanding of young stroke and introduced them to some young stroke survivors. This led to some fabulous coverage for Different Strokes and young stroke survivors Lili, Bridie and Kate in The Daily Mirror, Manchester Evening news, Yorkshire Live, Wales Online, Hull Daily Mail, and the Yorkshire Evening Post. You can find links to all these stories on Different Strokes website here
As well as generating some great news coverage of young strokes, we also got to engage in a big way with the next generation of journalists, their lecturers and their peers.
If you’d like to support Different Strokes in their work, please do! They are only a little charity so donations to their work make a huge difference . Here is their “support us” page where you can find out the many ways you can help them.
If you’d like some PR advice for your charity, head over to my contact page and get in touch!