GLASGOW, Scotland — A 28-year-old Scottish woman beat one-in-a-billion odds by surviving two strokes in a two-year period. She credits the medical emergencies for helping her find the love of her life.

Colette Boyd was working at a travel firm in Glasgow, and traveling the world, when she suffered her first stroke. She told the Daily Mail she woke up one morning with a weird feeling in her arm, but thought she had just slept on it weird.

"But when I went to work, a couple of people asked if I had done something to my arm," Boyd said. "After lunch, I had dribbled down the side of my mouth. So I did what every sensible girl does — I called my mum. She told me to go straight to the doctor."

When Boyd went to the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, doctors told her that she had suffered a hemorrhagic stroke as a result of a weakened vessel that bled into her brain.

During her recovery, the doctors told her that the chance of someone her age suffering a second stroke was a billion to one.

Related Stories:

Mommy Medicine: Understanding a stroke

Because of the increase in stroke-awareness campaigns over the past few years, there is a lot of information about the condition readily available to the public. In fact, there is so much information that many find it all difficult to understand.

However, almost exactly a year later, Boyd suffered a second stroke. It was caused by scar tissue from the original tear during the first stroke.

Boyd told the Daily Mail that no longer being able to work crushed her confidence and social life.

"I no longer sing in the church group I was once part of; and sometimes when I say something meant as a joke the tone doesn't change, and what I said can be taken the wrong way," Boyd said. "I have a general weakness down my left side and walk with a slight limp. I also can't really use my left arm at all now."

In attempts to remain social, she logged on to an internet chat room and began a conversation with a man over their shared love of football and rock music.

Boyd arranged to meet the man, Pete, for a date, and 10 months later they were engaged. Now the couple is happily married, living in Rutherglen, and hoping to start a family.

"Pete wasn't fazed by my condition," Boyd said. "He does so much for me, helping me cook and dress."

Colette, now 37, said she is finally returning to her old self, thanks to Pete, 46.

"He is all my good luck rolled into one," she said.

Boyd's new-found confidence prompted her to participate in a charity challenge in March. The Stroke Association's Big Swing event raises money by having stroke survivors swing from a 150 foot crane and over the River Clyde.

Boyd is hoping to raise a lot of money for stroke victims in the fundraiser.

Related topics