When baby Brooklyn Logan was born in 2021, his parents Zoe and Jordan knew their lives would never be the same.
Within 24 hours, Brooklyn began having seizures. He was rushed to the neonatal intensive care unit and sent for an urgent MRI.
"It was there Brooklyn turned purple and almost stopped breathing. We couldn't understand how this had happened to our tiny baby boy," Zoe said.
"We received a call from the doctor, and I will never forget those words, she said 'We would like to talk to you about what we are seeing, I'm not going to tell you not to worry, because you will.'
"The doctor turned the computer toward us and told us our little baby had a stroke. They told us it was likely it happened in utero, and that a blood clot had travelled from my placenta to his brain."
In the days following his stroke, Brooklyn's seizures stopped, and he was weaned off his medication. Just nine days later, he was sent home from hospital.
"The first few weeks of his life were hard. I was a first-time mum navigating newborn baby life with the added trauma of my son's brain injury and the fear of more seizures or strokes in the future," she said.
"Fast forward three years and Brooklyn is a thriving and energetic toddler. He has been discharged from all early intervention programs and met all milestones. Brooklyn will start kindy soon and face new challenges, but we are by his side every step of the way.
"It's a club no one expects to find themselves in, and one I'm sure not many people know exists. But I hope by sharing Brooklyn's story, we can raise awareness that strokes can happen to anyone of any age."
Zoe is sharing Brooklyn's story as part of Paediatric Childhood Stroke Awareness Month which runs every May. Around 600 Australian children have a stroke each year.
Stroke Foundation Chief Executive Officer Dr Lisa Murphy said around a third of all strokes in children occur under one year of age.
"Perinatal stroke happens before birth or shortly after birth, between 28 weeks of pregnancy and one month old. Childhood stroke happens in a child aged from one month to eighteen years old," Dr Murphy said.
"Stroke is more common in newborns and young babies than older children. It affects one in 2300 to 5000 newborns.
"We know the faster an adult or child with stroke gets to hospital and receives medical treatment, the better their chance of survival and a good recovery."
