# I’m celebrating my volunteer today and every day of the year!

Last year my life completely changed. Out of nowhere I suffered a stroke. I was completely taken by surprise, there were no warning signs.

I woke up during the night and I just knew something was wrong. My husband, Joe thought I had just fallen out of the bed and hit my head. My arm and leg were numb and I was trying to tell him what was going on but all that was coming out of my mouth was gobbledygook. I just wanted to get to the hospital.

Things were different after my stroke; I lost my confidence and found communicating really difficult. I really struggled with simple tasks that I had totally taken for granted before. My shoulder has been frozen ever since my stroke and that can make things like getting dressed in the morning much harder.  

There was a time where I didn’t think I’d ever get back to doing certain things. I couldn’t imagine being out and about again and ordering coffees. But thanks to Katie my volunteer from [Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland](https://www.chss.org.uk/), I am.

Katie has gotten me out of the house and socialising again.  We meet every week at one of the local coffee shops. I was quite nervous at the beginning and definitely quieter than I am now. But Katie has really helped me. Initially Katie would do exercises with me to help me improve my speech but now as I have become more confident we have a good blether and share lots of laughs.

Thanks to Katie my confidence is building and I’m getting my life back.  

Katie has reminded me to keep going and pushing forward. I know I’ll never be quite the same as I was before my stroke but I’m adapting, finding new positives and moving on.

It’s so important to find out what support is available to you – whatever it is that you might be going through. I feel very lucky to have Katie helping me and I know that there are other people out there that could benefit so much from having a volunteer.

My stroke turned my life upside down but Katie has helped to get me back on my feet.

I think this week and every week we should thank and celebrate people like Katie, who are giving up their time to transform people’s lives. From the bottom of my heart, thank you Katie.

[Volunteers Week Scot runs from 1 - 7 June 2019 - find out more!](https://www.volunteerscotland.net/about-us/news-blog/news/volunteers-week-scot-2019/)

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## About SCVO

SCVO (Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations) is the national membership organisation for Scotland's voluntary sector.

Our role is to champion the role of voluntary organisations in Scotland and to support them to do work that has a positive impact.

SCVO supports members and the wider voluntary sector with all aspects of setting up and running a voluntary organisation. SCVO represents the needs and concerns of the voluntary sector to the Scottish government in Holyrood and UK government and Westminster. Through our learning and events programme SCVO offers training and development opportunities to the sector.

Members access an extensive membership benefits package including specialist, in-depth, 1-to-1 guidance from our Information Services team and from professional service partners.

Access to exclusive membership networks (including comms, employers, governance and policy) supports members to grow their connections, stay up to date, exchange ideas and views with peers, and learn through tailored learning opportunities.

SCVO members enjoy free access to Funding Scotland Premium to stay on top of funding opportunities to support their organisation’s financial resilience.

Discounts and savings on SCVO products and services (including our HR service, managed IT support, payroll service and events and training) and partner offers provide members with support to allow them to focus on delivering their organisation’s goals. Further SCVO products and services include [extensive digital support](https://scvo.scot/support/digital), a climate action resource [Growing Climate Confidence](https://climateconfident.scot), a voluntary sector publication [Third Force News](https://tfn.scot) and a voluntary sector jobs and recruitment service [Goodmoves](https://goodmoves.org).

For more information on SCVO membership, visit [SCVO membership](https://scvo.scot/membership)