Lauano Akeli Matulino's story

After suffering a stroke in January 2022, Lauano Akeli Matulino and his family found their lives changing for the better.

In January 2022, Lauano Akeli suffered from a stroke at home as he was making himself a cup of tea.

“That night I went to go pick up my granddaughter Jorey around 9:30pm. We came home, she went into the main house, and I came to the garage to make myself a cup of tea.”

The symptoms came on suddenly – he experienced sudden weakness in his arm when trying to pick up his mug.

“I went to go stand up, lifted the cup and it fell. I tried holding the cup, lifting it up again and it fell again."

At this point he noticed he couldn’t move his leg.

“I put the cup down and tried to lift my leg and it wouldn’t move.”

Lauano Akeli’s wife Telesia says he called out to her saying “Come, I can’t stand up!” and quickly went to see what was wrong. She noticed that he was struggling to stand and saw a change in his appearance.

"I looked at his face and I could see it had changed; his eye and face were drooping.”

Telesia was scared and at that time did not recognise the signs.

“I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t think to call the ambulance and instead I used the traditional method of healing, Samoan fofo."

Early next morning, Lauano Akeli and Telesia visited their GP, and on retelling the events of the previous night to his doctor they were immediately referred to Middlemore Hospital where he was diagnosed as having suffered a stroke.

Doctors were unable to find the cause of the stroke but because they delayed seeking medical attention immediately, the damage caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain for that extent of time was now permanent.

“Just like the doctor said, I’m not back to 100%. Sometimes when I’m walking my foot drags along, it sometimes feels heavy and sometimes light.”

For Lauano Akeli this also meant big changes to his lifestyle - cutting down on alcohol, food, driving and mowing the lawns.

The couple’s youngest son Ray tells us:

“My old man is a stubborn kind of guy. Basically, all the stuff around the house, he likes to get his hands dirty and all that. Coming back from the hospital, he has cut that down. I told him just relax and don’t get overworked on things.”

The Matulino family have been supporting Lauano Akeli throughout his road to recovery by learning the signs of a stroke and risk factors and making changes to the family’s lifestyle.

Telesia says:

“My husband enjoyed and often ate unhealthy foods, but now after the stroke we have changed the way we eat and make healthy food choices.”

“My mistake was waiting until the next morning. When it started, we should have rung the ambulance when we noticed something was wrong.”

The family wants to encourage everyone:

“Especially our elderly and children, that if you see the signs don’t wait – ring 111 straight away. Then if anything were to happen, the medical professionals are there on hand to help.”