It has been three years since beloved Formula 1 pundit Jennie Gow suffered a stroke and the BBC F1 favourite admits ‘some days are a struggle’ even after returning to full-time work
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Jennie Gow was forced to sit out most of the 2023 season after suffering a stroke
Formula 1 pundit Jennie Gow has admitted “some days are a struggle” as she opened up on her ongoing recovery three years on from suffering a serious stroke. Gow has been a mainstay of the BBC’s coverage of F1 since 2012 but missed most of the 2023 campaign after the stroke struck in the days after Christmas.
When she confirmed her condition on social media in January 2023, Gow revealed: “My husband is helping me type this, as I’m finding it hard to write and my speech is most affected.” It later emerged that the stroke had been caused by a blood clot from her neck, caused by excessive coughing because of a virus from which she was suffering.
After many months of treatment, though, she returned to work at that year’s British Grand Prix in early July. She also travelled for the Dutch and Las Vegas Grands Prix that year before returning to her full-time duties for the 2024 season.
Posting on social media this week, on the third anniversary of her stroke, Gow revealed how she continues to feel the effects of the stroke to this day. She wrote: “Hard to believe it’s been 1096 days since I suffered a major stoke.
“A bout of flu and a simple cough left me collapsed and partially paralysed on the bathroom floor, unable to communicate with the outside world. It’s taken so much to recover to where I am today. A lot of love, dedication, kindness, support and hard graft.
At first, I could never imagine getting to a point where recovery was even a possibility. I took every step day by day, hour by hour. But here I am, a stroke survivor. A club no-one wants to join, but I’m ever hopeful that I can help the community by talking openly and honestly about stroke. It can happen to anyone; young or old, fit or not. Some days are a struggle but I will not let the stroke win.”
Her update comes after she detailed the events of the 2022 festive period which turned her life upside down, as well as those of her husband Jamie and daughter Isabelle, who was just six years old at the time. She told Woman and Home: “Lying there unable to speak and or move my right side, I quickly knew I had a huge fight ahead of me.
“My stroke occurred out of nowhere in December 2022. I had no health issues and was relaxing at home after Christmas with my husband and daughter, Isabelle, then aged six, when Jamie heard me collapse. Very quickly, he called for an ambulance which whisked the three of us to hospital in around 20 minutes.
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Jennie Gow has covered F1 full-time for BBC Radio since 2012
“My symptoms – a drooping face, inability to move my arms and being unable to speak – indicated I was experiencing a stroke. After initial tests, it became clear I needed a thrombectomy to remove the clot and I was rushed up to St Thomas’ Hospital in London. Thankfully, my father-in-law arrived to take Isabelle back to be with family, as the whole experience was extremely traumatic.
“The surgery went well but those five days in hospital were my lowest point. I still remember watching the fireworks over London out of the window on New Year’s Eve, feeling so desperately alone, isolated and helpless. To go from being a fully fit working mum to being brain-damaged and disabled overnight felt completely dehumanising.
“It was like being a baby again, but in an adult’s body. I had to relearn how to do everything from walking and talking to reading and writing. I couldn’t even tell the time, and the nurses even had to teach me how to eat and swallow. I was also unable to communicate at all, which was terrible, given that communication was my life.
“Some memorable advice from a wonderful nurse at St Thomas’ proved to be a turning point. She could see how frustrated I was and said my first goal should be just to make a noise, any noise; even just an ‘a’ or an ‘oh’ was progress. Her advice was to get angry. Rage is apparently the most vivid emotion one can tap into, and she encouraged me to use that rage to find words. It worked – if it wasn’t for her, I’m not sure I’d be speaking now.”