Stroke of luck for Val

Drouin golf lover and local YMCA member Val Barrass is looking forward to swinging a club again after a six-month recovery from a stroke and heart attack.

The active 81 year-old grandmother is working on her fitness in the Strong Movers classes at the Bellbird Park Indoor Centre YMCA and is looking forward to returning to golf soon.

Val, who is a 40-year member of the Warragul Golf Club and plays off a handicap of 11, said the health scare was sudden.

“I had played 18 holes of golf the day before and walked every day,” she said.

“I had never had any type of problem like that before and it came out of the blue.”

“I was sitting in the lounge after breakfast and felt heavy in the chest but thought nothing of it. I drove down the street to get some fertiliser for my orchids and came back and collapsed in the garden.”

Fortunately her husband Eric found her quickly and called an ambulance which arrived within minutes and rushed her to the West Gippsland Hospital. She spent three days in intensive care and a week in hospital before starting the road back to health.

Amazingly Val was cleared of ongoing complications and damage to her heart and wanted to get her health and fitness back so the Strong Movers class was a great option.

“I got to the hospital quickly and they treated me in time. I was a very lucky girl,” she said.

She was back on her feet in two months and decided to come back to the Bellbird Park Centre, which she had joined in mid 2008.

She has attended the centre regularly and worked with the YMCA instructors to regain her strength and fitness, with the aim of playing golf again during the coming warmer months.

“I’m almost back to normal and the Strong Movers exercise classes at Bellbird Park have really helped. They vary the routines with weight work, stretching and cardio work and I really like it.”

Eric, 86, is also a keen golfer who still plays twice a week and Val said things had returned to normal at home too.

“I still do the washing and the cooking, I can’t get away from that,” she laughed. “So I am keen to get back on to the golf course now.”