Life’s unexpected turns: Marwar’s journey

Meet Marwar Uddin, a confident and charming 42-year-old from Bow. He is an advocate for stroke survivors with an important presence on various platforms.

Marwar has tens of thousands of views on TikTok, has been featured in stroke awareness publications for the Stroke Association on Thriving After Stroke and spoke to ministers at the Houses of Parliament about his journey.

In 2022, he experienced a stroke at work, leading him to admirably adapt to his new normal. We sat down with Marwar and Farzana our safeguarding advisor, to delve into his experiences, the impact on his family life, his advocacy for stroke awareness, and the role Farzana and Poplar HARCA have had in his rehabilitation.

Please can you tell us a bit about what your life was like before the stroke?

Marwar: ‘‘So, before my stroke I was a family man. I was a devoted family man. I have three children. I used to do what any family man would do so, dropping my kids off to school, picking them up, taking them to after school clubs, taking them swimming. We used to go out in the evening to have a bite to eat. We used to go on holidays, you know. I always put them first, they’re my life and soul. I completely love them to bits. You know my wife, I’ve been with her and married for 20 years now, she’s the most amazing person you can ever meet.

I was career driven as well, just like any happy go lucky person full of life, you know, not one that is a shy person.’’

Please can you tell us a bit about when you first had the stroke?

Marwar: ‘‘Oh yeah. I remember the day very, very well up to a certain point.

I went to work that morning. My wife and my children went to see their nan for a couple of days, because it was the August holidays. So I was home alone. We have a cat, her name is Kiara. She’s a beautiful cat, but I’m petrified of cats! She’s a very quiet cat. She’s a lazy cat.

I was at home, I woke up and got my stuff ready. I showered, and that morning I decided that I’m not going to sit at home and work, because there’s nobody at home. It was boring at home, and I didn’t want to be stuck with the cat. Kiara was all over me. Like she was meowing at me so much. It was unbelievable. And that’s not her. So, I thought, okay there’s something not right… so I check the food, check her water, check her litter tray and everything was perfect. So, she started scratching. I thought this is really strange, this is not right. You know what, I’m going to go into work because I can’t deal with her! Kiara’s antics made me leave my house without having my caffeine fix in the morning. I never leave the house without a cup of tea or coffee in the morning…

Within 10 minutes, I was at work, and went up the stairs, where I have my own office. I go to the staff room which is where 12 of them sit together in a big office. The reason why I go to the staff room normally is to say hello to everybody. I’m telling you in a lot of detail here because I remember every little detail.

I put my laptop on, went next door and there was my colleague. He was making a cup of tea. I say hi to him and he offers to me make me a cup of tea. I said yes please, with 2 tea bags! He was like, ‘okay no problem’ and he makes the tea. I said to my colleague ‘that cat at home. Man, you won’t believe it, man… this is what happened. And I don’t understand’.  And he was like ’oh, I don’t know’. I then had a sip of my tea. I went next door to my office, by that time my computer was loaded up, logged in and I rang someone on Teams… someone from HR. We talk for about two minutes, and I say, ‘see you later, take care, bye’.

Then in my head, it was like a hose pipe went off. It felt so nice. Whose been in a car, stuck on the motorway and you need the toilet? But you can’t do anything because there’s traffic. Then afterwards when you can eventually go to the toilet, that’s how it felt. But I felt this on my head, and I was touching my head, and I was thinking ‘what the heck is this?’. I can see my hand… the door was open because I didn’t close it. So, I thought any minute now, somebody would walk past because there’s people in the building. I called somebody on Teams, I call the person from HR and hang up straight away. I was looking for my colleague’s name but called the person from HR on Teams a second time. But they didn’t pick up either time. I didn’t know what was happening but, my phone was on the desk… so I got my phone and called my colleague and said ‘can you come here please?’. He didn’t understand what I was saying. So I said it again ‘can you please come here’. He said, ‘what what what?’. And then I had a last bit of courage from the bottom of my feet and said, ‘please can you come here?’ and then he came. So, the first two times, he didn’t understand what I was saying. He came into the office. I was muttering constantly, he knew that there was something wrong and then he called the ambulance.

At that moment I was looking up to the sky. But I didn’t know what was happening. Everything was blurry.

My colleague went into the other room and got a few other colleagues. One of my colleagues looked at me and said, ‘yeah, he’s having a stroke’.’’

Marwar went on to explain how his work colleagues drove him to the hospital, and when he got there, he was immediately seen by the staff. His treatment started straight away.