A teenager who collapsed while home alone laughed it off a dizzy spell - but he was actually having a stroke.
James Garland, 17, was getting ready for his first ever job interview in his bedroom at home last year before he suddenly passed out.
The student from Maidstone, Kent, managed to drag himself into a chair to wait for his mother Fiona, 42 to get home.
After waiting in the car park for half an hour to pick James up from his interview, she went in to find out where her son was - only to be told he had never turned up.
She rang James multiple times but got no answer, and rushed home with her two daughters to find him collapsed in a chair.
James, who was 16 and studying for his GCSEs at the time, was actually having a stroke which had completely paralysed the right side of his body after a blood clot had travelled to his brain.
He was rushed to Maidstone Hospital.
'I remember every second of it. I went to have a shower and I was perfectly normal but when I got into my room I felt a bit dizzy - like a head rush - and I went down,' he said.
'I was down for about half an hour but then felt fine again so I started to get dressed ready for my interview but collapsed again and had to drag myself to my chair and slumped in it to wait for my mum.
'I have no idea what was going through my head. My thoughts weren't the most articulate.
'But I was just laughing - or that's what I thought I was doing. Just laughing off fainting.
'Even when my mum got there and while I was in the ambulance I just felt like I was laughing.'
As their son was taken for blood tests, CT scans and MRIs, Mrs Garland and her ex-husband Christopher, 42, were told there was a four hour window to successfully treat a stroke victim - and James had collapsed roughly three hours and thirty minutes ago.
She said: 'I was shouting at him at first saying "Why didn't you go to your interview? This was your first chance to get a job and you haven't turned up?".
'He just wasn't responding but he looked like he was smiling so I thought he was winding me up right up until I saw some dribble on his t-shirt and then I started to panic.
'It was terrifying and the girls started to cry when I called for an ambulance. That set me off a bit but I knew I had to stay strong for James.'
The stroke permanently killed one section of James' brain but fortunately for the aspiring young actor it is an area that the rest of his brain can compensate for.
James was discharged from hospital after just four days and was back in school two weeks later after a miraculous recovery.
But he continues to have physiotherapy as his right arm and hand have been left very weak.
He has since been diagnosed with Lupus Anticoagulant, a condition that makes your blood extremely thick and increases chances of a stroke, and will be on blood thinning medication for the rest of his life.
He has since been diagnosed with a condition that makes blood extremely thick and increases the chances of a stroke, pictured with his mother and sisters Jennifer, 13 (left) and Lucy, 9 (middle)
He has written a play about his experience with the help of his drama teacher and will be performing at the Exchange Studio, Maidstone, on July 15 with his sister Jennifer playing his mother
'I wouldn't want anyone to go through what I've been through but I feel so lucky that I am still here. Another half an hour and things could have been very different,' he said.
'I'm so relieved that it won't impact my chances of being an actor. If I keep working at physio I should get all the strength in my arm back.
'I have just got to keep smiling and get on with it.'
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