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Rare Stroke Symptom: Man Couldn't Read Emails or Cash Machines
13 Feb
Summary
- Gordon Robb experienced a rare stroke symptom: loss of the ability to read.
- He did not exhibit common stroke signs like facial drooping or arm weakness.
- A clinical trial is investigating treatments for hemorrhagic stroke patients.
Gordon Robb, 63, from Bonnyrigg in Midlothian, Scotland, experienced a stroke in September 2025 that presented with an unusual symptom: he lost the ability to read.
Robb did not exhibit common stroke indicators such as facial drooping, arm weakness, or speech difficulties. Instead, written words in emails, texts, and on cash machines appeared as a foreign language. He initially dismissed these as signs of tiredness.
His cousin, who had recently lost her husband to a stroke, insisted he go to A&E. There, it was discovered Robb had a hemorrhagic stroke, a type occurring when a blood vessel in the brain bursts.
This rare symptom, affecting less than one percent of stroke sufferers, prompted Robb to join a clinical trial led by the University of Edinburgh. The trial, funded by the British Heart Foundation, is investigating whether clopidogrel or aspirin can prevent future strokes, heart attacks, and deaths in individuals who have experienced a hemorrhagic stroke.
