It's something health experts have warned us about for years: the alarming increase in stroke incidence, particularly among young Māori and Pasifika. Today, Stroke is the second leading cause of death in New Zealand and the number one cause of adult disability. Indira Stewart meets a family impacted by this increasingly common, and often preventable, medical tragedy.
Kole Tohovaka was 37 years old when he collapsed at his teacher aide job in South Auckland in April, 2023.
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Hours earlier he’d been at home in the kitchen, chopping vegetables to put in the crock pot for dinner and getting the kids ready for school. “It was a normal day for all of us,” says his wife Sophia Teirney-Tohovaka.
There was no sign their lives were about to take a devastating turn and that, hours later, she’d be at Auckland Hospital faced with the potential of her husband's death.
“I went off to work and Kole and the kids went off to school and then, at about midday, I got a phone call,” she says.
Staff at Mangopikopiko School, where Kole worked, had called an ambulance and Sophia was told to meet him at the hospital.
“At that point, I think my head knew that something was seriously wrong but my heart was still in a place of: ‘I’m just going to go to the hospital and pick Kole up and everything will be fine’,” she says.
When she arrived, she learned his chances of surviving the next 24 hours were slim. “Mum brought my kids up – faces I never want to see again. It was heartbreaking. Our eldest son really struggled. He was just so devastated.”
The family's three children were aged 15, 12 and four at the time.
“It went from whether he would make it to – he’s going to make it but he probably will never walk or talk again,” says Sophia.
It would be nearly a year before Kole’s family would hear him speak again. The father-of-three had to re-learn how to walk, talk and even swallow food. He now has Aphasia, a condition triggered by stroke which impacts his speech.
Kole may be a man of few words now, but his story has impacted thousands, spreading via social media and shedding light on a disease many suffer in silence. “A lot of people associate stroke with the older population but it’s really common among young people,” says Sophia.
And she’s right – stroke is happening to young New Zealanders, especially Māori and Pacific people at growing rates – a reality that experts warned would happen.
Alarming stroke trend spotted decade ago
Professor Anna Ranta was among researchers calling for urgent government action more than a decade ago after a study found that, in the previous 30 years, stroke incidence had declined in Europeans by 19% but had increased for Māori by 19% percent and for Pacific people by 66%.
“We are seeing younger people having strokes which is really depressing,” she told 1News in 2016, warning that it would get worse. Her predictions weren’t wrong – today’s health figures reveal one in four people over 25 will experience a stroke. For Māori and Pacific people, that number is even younger – they experience stroke on average 15 years earlier than European New Zealanders. The numbers are also alarming for people who live rurally.
Seconds from death – Watch this story on TVNZ+
Essentially, the data points back to poverty– those in poorer households face more challenges accessing the healthcare and stroke education they need which would ensure they had better outcomes and, in some cases, could even prevent strokes. The disparities have existed for decades but recent evidence suggests the gap is widening.
Ranta’s seen first-hand the devastating ripple effect of social inequity that a stroke in the family can exacerbate– teenagers leaving high school early to financially support the family, or help with caregiving and in one case, a young daughter committing suicide after getting caught in the wrong crowd after her father’s stroke. “Every time I tell that story I almost tear up because it’s so preventable.”
Children becoming caregivers of adults
Sophia says her children had to grow up quickly, too. “They become caregivers of no choice of their own. It’s sad when you’ve got to ask one of your children to help shower or toilet one of their parents, but they do it with no questions asked and no moaning,” she says.
“We are sharing our story in the hopes that our kids would have the opportunity to connect with other young people and that those going through the same experience as us wouldn’t feel alone as well.”
It’s estimated about 90,000 New Zealanders are living with the side effects of stroke. Ranta is worried that number could be even higher. “We have this concern that there are people who have milder strokes in the community who brush it off as nothing and then we are missing such an opportunity to prevent a bigger stroke,” says Ranta, who is leading new research which hopes to improve stroke care for Māori who live in rural areas.
“We want to identify these people to really know what the burden in the community is, and that's a key thing for us to know, so we can lobby with the government to increase funding and to increase access to really important prevention and treatments.”
The University of Otago would like to hear from people who live in the Wairarapa or Tairāwhiti region who believe they may have experienced stroke symptoms but did not go to hospital for treatment. Contact: 0800 88 30 70, stroke@otago.ac.nz
If you experience any potential stroke symptoms such as face drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulty or blurred vision, please seek immediate medical advice.
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