Yvonne was driving to work when she found that her vision was becoming fuzzy and her limbs felt numb. When she got to her workplace she felt very unwell but carried on working albeit with difficulty. The next day she went to work again but felt similarly unwell. At a routine GP appointment the next day she mentioned her symptoms and was referred to a TIA clinic, but as she was unaware what TIA meant she delayed the appointment because she was on annual leave from work for a few days. Eventually

Mike had a small episode one evening where he found himself unable to speak for a short while. As it was out of surgery hours he saw a locum GP who advised him to go home and see his doctor the next day, even though he had very high blood pressure. However, the next morning he had a more serious episode which was diagnosed as a stroke. He is fully recovered now, although he finds sometimes he has some short term memory loss, and is speech is slightly slurred at times.

Rich was on his way to his car when he tripped. When he got into his car he found that he had no feeling in his left leg and arm. He contacted his daughter for help, and she called for ambulance. He was diagnosed with a mini stroke and admitted to hospital for several weeks. After several weeks he regained his mobility fully and has had no further episodes since then.

Ken went to see his GP because he was experiencing problems with his eyesight when he woke up in the mornings. He had put off going to the doctor for some time as he thought it was probably something trivial but he was sent for tests which confirmed that he had a series of TIA's. Since then he has also discovered that he has a heart condition which is now being treated.

Ros was at the supermarket one day when she found herself feeling disorientated and unable to control the trolley. She felt faint and collapsed. An ambulance was called but Ros wanted to return home rather than be taken to hospital. She saw the GP the next day and was told she had had a mini stroke.

Brian had a TIA in March 2010. He felt dizzy and found it difficult to walk, and his vision became blurred. His wife called an ambulance and he stayed in hospital overnight. He has taken part in a TIA research project.

David came in from the garden and sat down to have a cup of tea but found he could not speak coherently and he was unable to make sense of things. His wife called for an ambulance and he was taken to hospital where a TIA was diagnosed. He stayed in hospital for two days but was then discharged, and has found it difficult to manage his feelings about what happened since that time.

Roger had a TIA/minor stroke in 2007 during which he felt disorientated and unable to coordinate his speech. He was unable to get a GP appointment on that day, but contacted NHS direct who advised him to seek medical attention so he made his own way to the emergency department of the nearest hospital, and was later admitted for further tests.

Rosemary's husband Brian had a TIA in March 2010. She realised something was wrong and called an ambulance. Brian took part in a research programme on TIA and Rosemary also took part as a healthy volunteer in the control group.

Martyn initially experienced a short episode of numbness and tingling in his arm which his doctor suspected was a small TIA, and was told to take aspirin. A few days later he experienced a further small TIA. Since that time he has had no further symptoms and feels that these two minor episodes have given him the opportunity to prevent anything more serious happening to him.