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Brave Claire forced to rebuild her life when she was savaged by a dog and suffered a strokeA young woman who suffered a debilitating stroke, which left her unable to walk or talk after an attack by a rottweiler, today vowed: “I’m not going to let it beat me.”

Claire Bush was just 20 and out walking her own dog near her home in West Winch, King’s Lynn, when the rottweiler attacked, leaving her with an injury to her neck which allowed a blood clot to form.

After having an emergency oper-ation to have part of her skull removed, Miss Bush – now 25 – was left partially paralysed.

In a heartbreaking road to recov-ery, the former King’s Lynn Morrison’s worker has had to learn to walk and talk again – and has

changed from being a loud and bubbly young woman to someone struggling to regain her confidence.

However, in her first ever inter-view after the life-changing inci-dent nearly five years ago, she said she was determined to live as normal a life as possible.

And she today has a simple and direct message for those recovering from a stroke: “Don’t give up.

“Be strong and live your life as best as you can.”

� Full story: Pages 12-13

Andrew Papworthandrew.papworth@archant.co.uk

MY BATTLE AFTER

ATTACK HORROR

Parents’ pride at reaching amazing £150,000 fundraising milestone in son’s memory Pages 2 & 3

Eight-page jobs section

� Claire Bush is determined she won’t be beaten by the terrible attack. Picture: MATTHEW USHER

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I’m still fighting back from the dog attack that changed my lifeClaire Bush was just a normal, loud and bubbly 20-year-old who liked to go out and dreamed of one day having her own home.

Yet on one fateful day in January 2009, her life was to be changed forever.

As she was out walking her dog, Connor, just a few hundred yards from her home in Coronation Avenue, West Winch, a rottweiler came running towards her.

Her instinct was to protect her own dog, kneeling down in front of him to shield him from any attack.

As she did so, the rottweiler went for her – with devastating consequences.

Despite her best attempts to fight the animal off, the dog kept up a relentless attack for 10 minutes until a passer-by saw what was happening and intervened.

In shock, Miss Bush went home and called her boyfriend and parents but noticed she was rapidly starting to lose feeling in her right arm and leg. She was also losing the power of speech.

Little did her or her family know that she was suffering a severe stroke. She had injured her neck in the incident which caused a blood clot to form.

“I thought she was having a panic attack,” said her mother, Susan. “I wouldn’t be thinking that it was a stroke in a million years.”

At first she was taken to Watlington Medical Centre.

They realised that she needed urgent medical attention, with doctors and nurses carrying her to a car so she could be taken to the emer-gency Medical Assessment Unit (MAU) at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn.

It was there that an MRI scan showed she had suffered a major stroke, which had left her partially paralysed and in urgent need of brain surgery.

Her mother explained: “I thought I’d come into hospital and see her the next day and she would be all right.

“She couldn’t speak and she couldn’t recognise me.”

Miss Bush was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in Cambridge, for a craniotomy – a crit-ical operation where part of the skull is removed to allow space for the swelling in the brain so that it does not cause more permanent injury.

This was particularly important in her case, as her young age meant her brain was still growing and developing.

The operation was a success.

However Miss Bush then faced what was perhaps the most difficult jour-ney of all – the road to recovery.

“Initially, she couldn’t do anything at all,” her mother explained, citing how her daughter had to be drip-fed as she was unable to eat and could not walk or talk.

Teams at Addenbrooke’s started by working on her speech and language while she was unable to move, until she was moved to Colman Hospital in Norwich for further rehabilitation.

She later went back home and a metal plate was inserted to replace the part of the skull that had been removed.

Slowly, she started to improve her mobility and speech – but it was a struggle.

“Every baby step was a big step into the unknown,” she said.

“Being able to walk again was massive. The ability to talk again and being understood was a huge mile-stone. Being able to drive again and gain independence was life changing for me.

“To do simple things like putting in my contact lenses one handed is an achievement in itself. Being able to write with my left hand surprised everyone including me.”

In September 2011, Miss Bush started to attend a communication

group run by the Stroke Association to help with her aphasia – a speech disorder which affects a third of all stroke survivors and which changed her ability to read, write and speak.

The group works by allowing people to communicate however is easiest for them – using pictures, writing or other methods.

“For Claire, a big part of it was

confidence-building,” said Gemma Smith, who is communication support and long-term support co-ordinator for the Stroke Association in West Norfolk.

For example, it was often difficult for her to get words out and, if put on the spot, she would have difficulty finding the words.

Today, she still faces some of those difficulties.

Although she can walk, she also still drags her right leg and cannot move about as easily as she did in the past.

She also said it has changed her personality.

“I used to be loud and bubbly and I used to go out,” she said.

“Now I’m quiet – but I’m getting there.

“I miss wearing heels and plat-forms – it is just normal girl stuff but I can’t do it.”

Her mother added: “She has been braver than I would’ve been, that is for sure.

“Claire’s life was just beginning.

Claire Bush was just 20 years old when she suffered a major stroke as a result of an injury sustained in an attack by a rottweiler. In her first interview since the devastating attack nearly five years ago, ANDREW PAPWORTH spoke to her about how the incident has completely changed her life – but how she vows never to let it beat her.

Every baby step was a big step into the unknown. Being able to walk again was massive... being able to drive again and gain independence was life changing for me

Claire Bush

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She was just young and had all her dreams and ambitions taken away from her.

“That was the hardest thing to come to terms with.”

Miss Bush, now 25, has not been able to go back to her job at Morrison’s in King’s Lynn but still leads an active life.

She regularly volunteers at the communication cafés run by the Stroke Association, where she helps other stroke survivors during their recovery, and has spoken about her life-changing experience to students at the College of West Anglia – an experience she described as nerve-wracking but rewarding.

“It is amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it,” she said.

“If I can overcome my confidence issues, who knows what I will be able to do in the future.”

Her ambition now is “going back to as normal a life as I possibly can”.

The government plans to increase the maximum prison sentence for dog owners whose pet is involved in a fatal attack to 14 years, the Environment Secretary said yesterday.

Owen Paterson said the govern-ment also proposes raising the penalty for the owner of a dog which causes injury to a victim to five years.

There have been various calls for stricter laws to control dangerous dogs after a number of attacks in Norfolk.

Norwich South MP Simon

Wright said he was concerned about dogs attacking other pets and injuring people after a pug was mauled by a Staffordshire bull terrier in Lakenham last year.

A few months later in Bressingham, a postman needed 17 stitches after he was attacked by a Staffordshire bull terrier which was supposed to be muzzled and in a cage.

The dog sprinted out of a neigh-bouring house and chased the post-man into his van, clamping its jaws around his right arm.

And earlier this year a six-year-

old Staffordshire bull terrier called Dillon was set upon by a rottweiler and a Staffordshire/pitbull cross in William Mear Gardens, in Norwich.

The Crown Prosecution Service and Norfolk police have said owners needed to take responsibility.

Norfolk Police have said that action will be taken if a dog is a danger to the public, whereas the Royal Mail has invested in equip-ment and an awareness campaign to help reduce the risk of injury to their staff.

Stiffer penalties for owners of dangerous animals

A stroke is a brain attack which happens when the blood supply to the brain is cut off, caused by a clot or bleeding in the brain.

It is the leading cause of severe adult disability in the UK, with more than 11,000 people in the East of England having a stroke every year and more than 115,000 people living with the effects of stroke.

It is the third most common cause of death in this country.

Although most people who have a stroke are older, the Stroke Association says that around a quarter of strokes happen to younger people and children.

It is estimated that more than 20,000 people under 65 have a stroke every year.

Even babies can have a stroke.

The Stroke Association says that there are certain things which contribute to the risk of a stroke which no one can do anything about, including a person’s genetic make-up.

However the charity also stresses the importance of having regular health checks, stopping smoking, eating healthily and taking regular exercise to help prevent the risk.

Stroke facts

� Claire Bush hasn’t let a stroke ruin her life and she is determined to stay on the road to recovery. Picture: MATTHEW USHER

Killer is back in jail after going on the runA convicted killer was detained by police in Norwich after going on the run.

Clive Butcher, 48, was wanted on recall to prison after breaching the terms of his licence.

A spokesman for Norfolk police said Butcher was detained in Norwich city centre yesterday lunch-time and was returned to prison.

Butcher, formerly of the Salvation Army hostel in Fore Street, Ipswich, was jailed for six-and-a-half years in 2010 for the manslaughter of his girl-friend, Rebecca Hoban, aged 28, in December 2008.

Butcher had featured on BBC1’s

Crimewatch programme in 2006.He went on the run after 1,689

indecent images of children, which were downloaded between January 1, 2002, and October 12, 2004, were discovered on his computer by offic-ers from Suffolk Police.

He was sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court to six months in jail for making indecent images of children and one count of possession of inde-cent photographs.

After his release, Butcher returned to Ireland where he met Ms Hoban.

� Killer Clive Butcher has been detained by police in Norwich and returned to prison.