A woman who suffered two strokes has said she believed high blood pressure was simply something she “lived with” and “never imagined it would nearly kill” her.
Natasha Carayol, 40, from north London, had a stroke in May 2022 after feeling like a “nuclear bomb went off” in her head, and doctors confirmed her high blood pressure caused the aneurysm which led to a stroke.
She underwent emergency brain surgery and was left with a severely swollen face as well as slow speech and extreme weakness, meaning she had to relearn how to walk.
The stroke put her life into perspective, and she decided to make her work as a financial adviser freelance, and become a DJ after music helped her through her recovery.
In 2024, she discovered she was pregnant and felt “terrified” of having another stroke.
Five weeks after giving birth, in June 2025, her “worst nightmare” became a reality – she suffered a second stroke, again caused by high blood pressure.
Natasha, a mother of two to Jahzire, 17, and Malaya, seven months, told PA Real Life: “I thought high blood pressure was just something I lived with – I never imagined it would nearly kill me.
“I now live with fear, I’m constantly worried it’s going to happen again.
“Any headache, any strange feeling – my heart races.
“A stroke doesn’t just change your body, it changes your mind.”
Until 2022, Natasha was a regional team manager and financial adviser for an insurance broker, juggling life as a single mother alongside her side project as a radio DJ.
She was unaware of any serious health concerns, apart from discovering she had high blood pressure in 2010.
In May 2022, she began experiencing “really bad headaches” and feeling “very exhausted” for around a week.
She tried to ignore the pain and, one day, instead of working from home as usual, decided to go into the office.
After joining her morning Zoom meeting, she took a sip of her coffee when it suddenly felt “like a nuclear bomb went off” in her head.
She was unable to move and collapsed onto the floor.
There was no-one on her side of the office, so as she fell she grabbed the desk to make noise and alert colleagues on her floor.
“I wanted to scream, but nothing came out. I was trapped in my body,” Natasha added.
Colleagues rushed over and called an ambulance and she was blue-lighted to Ealing Hospital, where she slowly began to regain movement and speech.
Tests revealed she had extremely high blood pressure, and she said doctors initially believed she “just needed to rest”.
She said she was asked to go home as they needed the bed, but Natasha remembered she paid for private medical insurance and asked for further tests.
A brain scan revealed a brain bleed caused by an aneurysm, which had triggered a stroke.
She also said doctors confirmed the aneurysm was caused by her high blood pressure.
“Based on the diagnosis, I think if I went home that night, I would not have woken up the next day – my brain was flooding with blood,” she said.
She was transferred to Charing Cross Hospital later that same day.
The following morning, she underwent emergency brain surgery to stop the bleeding and prevent a future aneurysm.
Natasha explained: “After surgery my face was all swollen up, I looked like the Elephant Man, I was in bed a lot so had to learn how to walk again because I was so weak.
“I had speech therapy because my speech was slow and I had to think about what I was going to say before I said it.”
After leaving hospital, Natasha stayed with her grandmother, who looked after her.
Natasha found recovery difficult, as she was no longer as independent as she once had been.
She had to “rebuild (her) confidence” and turned to music, as she said DJing made her feel like herself again.
She began DJing for her neighbours in the garden for a few hours at a time and by October, when she had almost recovered, she returned to her job, but still felt “too weak”.
Taking this as a sign, she decided to focus on DJing instead – going on holiday to Morocco to DJ and set herself the goal of performing around the world.
Through contacts she made while on her trip, she went on to perform in Greece, Spain and Turkey.
She felt she had found her “purpose” and that her life was getting “better and back to normal”.
In October 2024, Natasha was surprised to discover she was pregnant.
Throughout pregnancy, she was “terrified of having another stroke,” as pregnancy can increase the risk of having a stroke.
But she saw a specialist who managed to bring her blood pressure down, which reassured her.
After giving birth in June 2025, she lost a significant amount of blood and was admitted to intensive care.
Five weeks later, while at home, she suddenly felt the urge to pass her baby to her partner and developed a headache.
Moments later, she collapsed and her mother called an ambulance – she had suffered another brain bleed and stroke.
Once again, doctors confirmed the cause as high blood pressure.
She spent three weeks in hospital recovering, while breastfeeding her newborn daughter from her hospital bed.
She said: “I looked at her and knew I had to get better. I needed to come home. I needed to be her mum.”
Her recovery was “harder this time” as she could not move her left side at first, and her speech was slurred and delayed.
With the help of a speech and language therapist, her speech has since improved, while an occupational therapist has helped her regain movement.
However, she continues to feel the mental impact of having had a stroke – she is “paranoid” and “constantly worried” about having another one.
Now, Natasha is working with the Stroke Association to raise awareness this Stroke Prevention Day, January 29, determined to help others understand their risk.
“If my story makes one person check their blood pressure, it’s worth it,” Natasha explained.
“High blood pressure is often silent, but the consequences can be catastrophic.
“Stroke isn’t something that only happens to older people. I was in my thirties. I was busy, working, being a mum, living my life.
“Blood pressure doesn’t care how strong or successful you are.”
The Stroke Association is the leading charity in the UK providing life-long support for all stroke survivors and their families.
They provide tailored support to tens of thousands of stroke survivors each year, fund vital scientific research, and campaign to secure the best care for everyone affected by stroke.
For more information, visit: www.stroke.org.uk.