This article summarizes the story of Claire Bush, a young woman who suffered a debilitating stroke after being attacked by a rottweiler dog near her home in West Winch, King's Lynn. The attack injured her neck and caused a blood clot that led to the stroke. She had to undergo brain surgery and spent years learning how to walk, talk, and regain basic functions again. Though still facing some difficulties, she has made significant progress in her recovery and vows that she will not let the attack defeat her. The article provides details of her ordeal and recovery journey over the past five years.

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Brave Claire forced to rebuild
her life when she was savaged
by a dog and suffered a stroke
A young woman who suffered a
debilitating stroke, which left
her unable to walk or talk after
an attack by a rottweiler, today
vowed: “I’m not going to let it beat
me.”
Claire Bush was just 20 and out
walking her own dog near her
home in West Winch, King’s Lynn,
when the rottweiler attacked,
leaving her with an injury to her
neck which allowed a blood clot to
form.
After having an emergency oper-
ation to have part of her skull
removed, Miss Bush – now 25 – was
left partially paralysed.
In a heartbreaking road to recov-
ery, the former King’s Lynn
Morrison’s worker has had to learn
to walk and talk again – and has
changed from being a loud and
bubbly young woman to someone
struggling to regain her
confidence.
However, in her first ever inter-
view after the life-changing inci-
dent nearly five years ago, she said
she was determined to live as
normal a life as possible.
And she today has a simple
and direct message for those
recovering from a stroke: “Don’t
give up.
“Be strong and live your life as
best as you can.”
I Full story: Pages 12-13
Andrew Papworth
andrew.papworth@archant.co.uk
MY BATTLE
AFTER
ATTACK
HORROR
Parents’ pride at reaching amazing £150,000
fundraising milestone in son’s memory Pages 2 & 3
Eight-page jobs section
I Claire Bush is determined she won’t be beaten by the terrible attack.
Picture: MATTHEW USHER

2. 12
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I’m still fighting
back from the
dog attack that
changed my life
Claire Bush was just a normal, loud
and bubbly 20-year-old who liked to
go out and dreamed of one day
having her own home.
Yet on one fateful day in January
2009, her life was to be changed
forever.
As she was out walking her dog,
Connor, just a few hundred yards
from her home in Coronation
Avenue, West Winch, a rottweiler
came running towards her.
Her instinct was to protect her own
dog, kneeling down in front of him to
shield him from any attack.
As she did so, the rottweiler went
for her – with devastating
consequences.
Despite her best attempts to fight
the animal off, the dog kept up a
relentless attack for 10 minutes until
a passer-by saw what was happening
and intervened.
In shock, Miss Bush went home
and called her boyfriend and parents
but noticed she was rapidly starting
to lose feeling in her right arm and
leg. She was also losing the power of
speech.
Little did her or her family know
that she was suffering a severe
stroke. She had injured her neck in
the incident which caused a blood
clot to form.
“I thought she was having a panic
attack,” said her mother, Susan. “I
wouldn’t be thinking that it was a
stroke in a million years.”
At first she was taken to
Watlington Medical Centre.
They realised that she needed
urgent medical attention, with
doctors and nurses carrying her to a
car so she could be taken to the emer-
gency Medical Assessment Unit
(MAU) at the Queen Elizabeth
Hospital in King’s Lynn.
It was there that an MRI scan
showed she had suffered a major
stroke, which had left her partially
paralysed and in urgent need of
brain surgery.
Her mother explained: “I thought
I’d come into hospital and see her the
next day and she would be all right.
“She couldn’t speak and she
couldn’t recognise me.”
Miss Bush was taken to
Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in
Cambridge, for a craniotomy – a crit-
ical operation where part of the skull
is removed to allow space for the
swelling in the brain so that it does
not cause more permanent injury.
This was particularly important in
her case, as her young age meant her
brain was still growing and
developing.
The operation was a success.
However Miss Bush then faced what
was perhaps the most difficult jour-
ney of all – the road to recovery.
“Initially, she couldn’t do anything
at all,” her mother explained, citing
how her daughter had to be drip-fed
as she was unable to eat and could
not walk or talk.
Teams at Addenbrooke’s started by
working on her speech and language
while she was unable to move,
until she was moved to Colman
Hospital in Norwich for further
rehabilitation.
She later went back home and a
metal plate was inserted to replace
the part of the skull that had been
removed.
Slowly, she started to improve her
mobility and speech – but it was a
struggle.
“Every baby step was a big step
into the unknown,” she said.
“Being able to walk again was
massive. The ability to talk again and
being understood was a huge mile-
stone. Being able to drive again and
gain independence was life changing
for me.
“To do simple things like putting
in my contact lenses one handed is an
achievement in itself. Being able to
write with my left hand surprised
everyone including me.”
In September 2011, Miss Bush
started to attend a communication
group run by the Stroke Association
to help with her aphasia – a speech
disorder which affects a third of
all stroke survivors and which
changed her ability to read, write and
speak.
The group works by allowing
people to communicate however is
easiest for them – using pictures,
writing or other methods.
“For Claire, a big part of it was
confidence-building,” said Gemma
Smith, who is communication
support and long-term support
co-ordinator for the Stroke
Association in West Norfolk.
For example, it was often difficult
for her to get words out and, if put on
the spot, she would have difficulty
finding the words.
Today, she still faces some of those
difficulties.
Although she can walk, she also
still drags her right leg and cannot
move about as easily as she did in the
past.
She also said it has changed her
personality.
“I used to be loud and bubbly and I
used to go out,” she said.
“Now I’m quiet – but I’m getting
there.
“I miss wearing heels and plat-
forms – it is just normal girl stuff but
I can’t do it.”
Her mother added: “She has been
braver than I would’ve been, that is
for sure.
“Claire’s life was just beginning.
Claire Bush was just 20
years old when she
suffered a major stroke
as a result of an injury
sustained in an attack
by a rottweiler. In her
first interview since the
devastating attack
nearly five years ago,
ANDREW
PAPWORTH spoke to
her about how the
incident has completely
changed her life – but
how she vows never to
let it beat her.
Every baby step was
a big step into the
unknown. Being able to
walk again was
massive... being able to
drive again and gain
independence was life
changing for me
Claire Bush

3. 13
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2013
She was just young and had all her
dreams and ambitions taken away
from her.
“That was the hardest thing to
come to terms with.”
Miss Bush, now 25, has not been
able to go back to her job at
Morrison’s in King’s Lynn but still
leads an active life.
She regularly volunteers at the
communication cafés run by the
Stroke Association, where she helps
other stroke survivors during their
recovery, and has spoken about her
life-changing experience to students
at the College of West Anglia – an
experience she described as nerve-
wracking but rewarding.
“It is amazing what you can do
when you put your mind to it,” she
said.
“If I can overcome my confidence
issues, who knows what I will be able
to do in the future.”
Her ambition now is “going back
to as normal a life as I possibly
can”.
The government plans to increase
the maximum prison sentence for
dog owners whose pet is involved
in a fatal attack to 14 years, the
Environment Secretary said
yesterday.
Owen Paterson said the govern-
ment also proposes raising the
penalty for the owner of a dog
which causes injury to a victim to
five years.
There have been various calls for
stricter laws to control dangerous
dogs after a number of attacks in
Norfolk.
Norwich South MP Simon
Wright said he was concerned
about dogs attacking other pets and
injuring people after a pug was
mauled by a Staffordshire bull
terrier in Lakenham last year.
A few months later in
Bressingham, a postman needed 17
stitches after he was attacked by a
Staffordshire bull terrier which
was supposed to be muzzled and in
a cage.
The dog sprinted out of a neigh-
bouring house and chased the post-
man into his van, clamping its jaws
around his right arm.
And earlier this year a six-year-
old Staffordshire bull terrier called
Dillon was set upon by a rottweiler
and a Staffordshire/pitbull cross in
William Mear Gardens, in
Norwich.
The Crown Prosecution Service
and Norfolk police have said
owners needed to take
responsibility.
Norfolk Police have said that
action will be taken if a dog is a
danger to the public, whereas the
Royal Mail has invested in equip-
ment and an awareness campaign
to help reduce the risk of injury to
their staff.
Stiffer penalties for owners of dangerous animals
A stroke is a brain attack
which happens when the
blood supply to the brain is
cut off, caused by a clot or
bleeding in the brain.
It is the leading cause of
severe adult disability in the
UK, with more than 11,000
people in the East of England
having a stroke every year
and more than 115,000 people
living with the effects of
stroke.
It is the third most common
cause of death in this country.
Although most people who
have a stroke are older, the
Stroke Association says that
around a quarter of strokes
happen to younger people and
children.
It is estimated that more
than 20,000 people under 65
have a stroke every year.
Even babies can have a
stroke.
The Stroke Association says
that there are certain things
which contribute to the risk
of a stroke which no one can
do anything about, including
a person’s genetic make-up.
However the charity also
stresses the importance of
having regular health checks,
stopping smoking, eating
healthily and taking regular
exercise to help prevent the
risk.
Stroke facts
I Claire Bush hasn’t let a stroke ruin
her life and she is determined to stay
on the road to recovery.
Picture: MATTHEW USHER
Killer is back in
jail after going
on the run
A convicted killer was detained by
police in Norwich after going on the
run.
Clive Butcher, 48, was wanted on
recall to prison after breaching the
terms of his licence.
A spokesman for Norfolk police
said Butcher was detained in
Norwich city centre yesterday lunch-
time and was returned to prison.
Butcher, formerly of the Salvation
Army hostel in Fore Street, Ipswich,
was jailed for six-and-a-half years in
2010 for the manslaughter of his girl-
friend, Rebecca Hoban, aged 28, in
December 2008.
Butcher had featured on BBC1’s
Crimewatch programme in 2006.
He went on the run after 1,689
indecent images of children, which
were downloaded between January
1, 2002, and October 12, 2004, were
discovered on his computer by offic-
ers from Suffolk Police.
He was sentenced at Ipswich
Crown Court to six months in jail for
making indecent images of children
and one count of possession of inde-
cent photographs.
After his release, Butcher
returned to Ireland where he met Ms
Hoban.
I Killer Clive
Butcher has been
detained by police in
Norwich and returned
to prison.