Mauro
The date is September 2023 . The occasion, a hipster-chic wedding in one of the coolest wedding venues in Tuscany. It’s a joyous occasion, a celebration of both love and life, but as far as the groom is concerned, two of the guests are more important than all the others – the woman who gave birth to him in 1987, and the one who 33 years later gave him a second chance.
Dr Angela Konze attends with her partner, emergency nurse Rita Marino, who was the first person to see Mauro Carruccio when he was wheeled through the doors of Hospital Santa Maria Nuovo shortly after 7 am on 29 December 2020.
“Mauro was brought to the hospital by the EMS,” Rita says. “They called ahead to let us know they were bringing a young man with leftside hemiparesis whose last time seen normal wasn’t known. I immediately activated the stroke pathway for a case of wake-up stroke.”
With 25 diamond Awards, Hospital Santa Maria Nuovo is one of the leading stroke centres in Europe. Within a year of enrolling with Angels in 2018, it doubled its recanalisation rate, reduced its door-to-needle time by half and collected Italy’s first diamond award. Since then the bright spot at Hospital Santa Maria Nuova has continued to spread its light.
Fully recovered thanks to their quick action and swift decision-making, Mauro is a regular participant in workshops and training meetings. The story of his second chance now has a new twist as he and his wife Julia Mete recently welcomed their first child. Happy endings like theirs is what the Angels mission is about.
George
When SAFE president Harriet Proios says, “Every stroke survivor who turns their struggle into strength for others are my heroes,” it’s people like George Scola she’s thinking of. The South African entrepreneur was 37 when, on an ordinary Saturday morning in April 2008, he found himself in the back of an ambulance hurtling towards an entirely unpredictable future.
Disabled as a result of his stroke, and with his business in ruins, George had one more thing to lose and he did. After his divorce, he founded the Stroke Suvivors Foundation, and set off on a 2,500 km walk from South Africa’s northern border to the coast to raise awareness and funds.
George co-authored the Global Stroke Bill of Rights that was launched at the World Stroke Congress in Istanbul in 2014. He was elected to the WSO board in 2016.
“Surviving stroke is the easy part,” he says. “You either do, or you don’t, and while you’re in hospital you are looked after and receive all the care you need. But the day you’re discharged, it changes. That’s when our lives as stroke survivors begin.”
Rocio
Rocio González Gutiérrez, an accountant from Borges Blanques in the province of Lleida, Spain, suffered a hemorrhagic stroke at 32, five days after giving birth to twin girls Valme and Paula.
Following her discharge from the University Hospital Arnau de Vilanova, she underwent multiple therapies but when state funding dried up 18 months later, Rocio was still a wheelchair user with right hemiplegia preventing the use of her right arm and hand. She now walks with difficulty, and struggles with memory, logic and calculations.
In 2025, almost 12 years after her stroke, Rocio found herself on a stretcher being wheeled once more through the corridors of Hospital Arnau de Vilanova. This time, however, she was wearing a red vest labeled “patient”, signaling that she was taking part in a simulation intended to identify gaps in the intrahospital pathway.
It’s just one of the ways in which Rocio contributes to stroke care transformation in her region.
Although the simulation triggered feelings of grief, nervousness and fear, she would do it again in a heartbeat.
Stroke has taught her that there are wonderful people, Rocio says. “You have to fight, but there is life after stroke – and the small details, those we sometimes don’t give importance to, become very beautiful moments.”
