AN aspiring designer who returned to fashion despite having part of her skull removed following a stroke is to be honoured for her courage.

Kathryn Thompson was a fit and healthy 22-year-old when a blood clot in her neck caused her to suffer a severe stroke in July 2008.

She had to have part of her skull removed to relieve swelling on her brain and spent more than a week in intensive care.

Afterwards, she struggled to eat or sit up.

She said: “Because I was asleep, I thought it was all a bad dream. I thought I had fallen off a roof.”

Her rehabilitation was long and frustrating. Nearly two years on, she still has limited mobility down her left side.

But she is walking and talking – and again designing and making clothes and quilts.

Now 24, Miss Thompson, who is about to complete a foundation degree in fashion design at Newcastle College, is to receive a Life After Stroke Award from The Stroke Association.

From her home in Belmont, near Durham City, she said: “When I saw my tutors, I told them it’s not my award, it’s your award, because they helped me a lot. Doing my quilting was a big part of my rehabilitation. It was good for my confidence. It helped my speech a lot.”

Asked what advice she had for others recovering from a stroke, she said: “Don’t give up. At first, I thought I could not cope and it wasn’t fair, but the main thing was I wanted to get back to college.

“It takes a really long time and it’s really frustrating, but eventually it comes right.”

The former Belmont School pupil was nominated for her award by tutor Gillian Banks, of The Quilters Cupboard, Langley Moor, where she used to work.

She will collect the Susie Hulks Memorial Award at a ceremony in Claridge’s, London, on Tuesday, June 15.