Stroke victim trapped inside his own body - and can only communicate by blinking

A 46-YEAR-OLD man who cycled 100 miles every weekend has been diagnosed with locked-in syndrome – after he suffered three strokes in two days.

Shop-fitter Jon Cusick from Kimberley has been rendered mute by the strokes and can only communicate by blinking.

Mr Cusick has been unable to talk or move for the past 12 weeks, and is currently bed-bound at Nottingham City Hospital.

The strokes were caused because he had an undiagnosed arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat. This caused a blood clot which blocked one of the main arteries to his brain.

Consultant physician Dr Sunil Munshi said the type of stroke Mr Cusick had was "extremely rare" for men of his age.

Mr Cusick was taken to hospital by his wife Kate on March 28 after he became violently sick. Medics discovered his heart was beating at an irregular rate, and it was while they were working on him that the left side of his face dropped and he suffered his first stroke.

A high-risk operation was carried out at the Queen's Medical Centre, which was a success, and when his wife visited him that evening he could talk.

But later that night he suffered a second stroke and then later that day doctors said he had a third episode, the effects of both left him unable to move his entire body or breathe unaided.