OPERATORS of a popular Barnard Castle cafe have been hailed as heroes after coming to the aid of a stroke victim.
Susan Swanson, from Staindrop, says she would probably have ended up wandering the streets in a daze and come to harm had it not been for the help and care she received at Nobia and Sons cafe.
Most businesses in the town were closing when Mrs Swanson began to feel poorly on Saturday, July 6, with what she initially thought was a migraine.
She said: “I get warning signs with flashes of light, but all of a sudden it got really bad and I felt terrible.
“All I had with me were some painkillers and I thought I must stop somewhere and take medication, have a drink and a little something to eat.”
Mrs Swanson said she was turned away from two shops which were shutting before arriving at Nobia and Sons.
She added: “I did think, ‘oh no they are closing’ because the seats were gathered up at the front.
“I explained to her (owner Nobia Deprez) what was happening and I was really poorly.”
Ms Deprez insisted Mrs Swanson come inside.
She then prepared a cheese toastie and staff member Zac Long poured an iced-tea for Mrs Swanson to take with her medication.
Mrs Swanson said: “I did feel a lot better, just with the peace and quiet and in the shade as well.
“I was able to make my way home after that.”
Later that evening she had another episode and Mrs Swanson’s husband Angus rang 999 for an ambulance.
She was taken to Darlington Memorial Hospital and after a CT scan confirmed she had suffered a stroke, Mrs Swanson was rushed to the specialist unit at Durham University Hospital.
Mrs Swanson said: “I had an MRI scan at Durham, which confirmed what the scan at Memorial had said.
“They said I have had two strokes. They are not sure if I have had two separate ones, or if this latest one is a continuation of an earlier one.
“I get upset every time I talk about this.
“In my opinion if Nobia hadn’t insisted I went in, I would have gone wandering and could’ve end up down a back street because I wasn’t quite with it.
“Obviously, she was closing, but just to take the time out to help somebody is fantastic.”
Mr Swanson added: “They are heroes. They are absolutely brilliant, fantastic to do what they did.
“Susan is very lucky and they have put a lot of this down to how Nobia acted, it is nice to see humanity at its best.”
The cafe owner down-played her role in helping Mrs Swanson.
Mrs Deprez said: “She said she needed to take her medication because she is not feeling great.
“I said okay, just sit down, we will feed you.
“I don’t mind, I would do it for anyone – I love doing it because it makes me feel happy.”
He son Ryan added: “We are normally here until about five anyway, so it doesn’t take much for us to open up for someone because we are going to be tidying up anyway.”
