General News
8 September, 2026
Read the signs and ‘be fast’
JUST two small signs made Babinda man Darryl Lister think he may be having a stroke.
In late June the 80-year-old woke in the middle of the night with a pounding headache and the painkillers he took had little effect.
Then the next morning at the bank he realised he couldn’t sign his name.
The former shift worker who spent 45 years driving cane trains for Babinda and Gordonvale mills said he knew something was wrong and called the local GP and was seen immediately.
“It scared me a bit,” he said.
“I had an idea it was a stroke and when I saw the doctor he confirmed it.”
Since then Mr Lister has experienced three more small strokes and each time has been admitted into Cairns Hospital’s stroke unit.
He said the care had been exceptional.
“They’re very good. They’ve been telling me everything and making sure I understand what’s going on,” Mr Lister said.
He urged anyone even with minor symptoms to seek urgent help.
“If you don’t, then you may never know and you could end up getting a bigger one that could kill you,” Mr Lister said.
Cairns Hospital Stroke Unit acting clinical nurse consultant Jiby Jacob said more than 100 people a day suffered from a stroke in Australia and acting quickly could make all the difference in someone’s recovery.
“In fact you need to ‘be fast’,” she said.
As follows:
B – Balance: Sudden loss of balance, dizziness or trouble walking
E – Eyes: Trouble seeing or double vision
F – Face: One side of face droops or feels numb
A – Arms: Sudden weakness or numbness in one arm
S – Speech: Speech is slurred, strange or hard to understand
T – Time: Time to call 000 immediately, even if symptoms go away.
“We are so lucky to have an incredible team in our stroke unit at Cairns Hospital with the unit just receiving national certification as a primary stroke centre,” Ms Jacob said.
“This certification recognises the amazing staff and high quality care the unit delivers to stroke patients like Darryl every day,” she said.
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