A teacher who woke up with what she thought was a severe headache was actually having a stroke – and the longer she stayed at home the more damage was being done to her brain.

Debbie Willsher, 51, was eventually found at home by a friend, who rushed her to A&E where she spent three weeks in intensive care and a further four months recovering.

Mrs Willsher, from Brighton, said: “In the morning I felt awful, it was like one million hangovers all rolled into one.

“I had a terrible headache and a pain in my neck, which I later found out were symptoms of a stroke.”

Mrs Willsher, head of Year 6 at Patcham Juniors in Brighton, called the school to let colleagues know she was ill.

The next day, she messaged friends she was meant to be meeting to celebrate her birthday to let them know she was unwell but was later told her texts didn’t make sense.

After seeing the messages, close friend Nigel Stock became concerned and visited her house, where he found her in bed, cold and disorientated.

Mrs Willsher said: “I’m always at social events and have a great work attendance so I think between that and the text messages he knew that something was wrong. He probably saved my life.”

He called 111 and, after discussing her symptoms, took her the Royal Sussex County Hospital where she spent three weeks in intensive care.

Mrs Willsher said: “My parents came straight down from Newcastle to Brighton by taxi to see me. It cost them £700, but my dad said ‘that’s my daughter’, and that was the end of it.”

Debbie said: “I’ve been very lucky. The doctors said the mortality rate for what I have experienced is very high but the staff at Brighton were amazing.

“I was meant to be doing a big dance at the Brighton Dome with my pupils and I just could not believe that I wasn’t there, I was in complete denial.”

She had also planned holidays to Spain and Greece but because of a metal coil fitted in her brain to prevent blood flow to the damaged area and avoid further ruptures she was unable to fly for six months.

After leaving hospital following months of recovery, Mrs Willsher had a heart attack and was taken back to hospital. She said: “It really hasn’t been my year.”

As a result of the stroke, she is paralysed down the left side of her body and is now unable to walk or use her left hand.

She said: “Going back home, it was like walking into a strangers house. I had been away for so long that even the clothes in the wardrobe didn’t feel like mine any more.”

It was her role as a teacher she missed the most.

She said: “I really love my job, so by being away I have lost a bit of myself and when you stay at home for too long your home becomes like a prison.”

Her will to recover meant she was able to visit her class at the end of July before they left for secondary school.

She said: “It was very emotional, but I wanted to say goodbye.”

During her absence, the children had an assembly about her illness and decided to do a sponsored walk to raise money for the Stroke Association.

Mrs Willsher said: “There was some help from teachers, but it was all their own idea and they had researched the charity.

“It was quite a way that they walked and they managed to raise an amazing £2,400.”

The children were also visited by the Stroke Association and were told how to spot the symptoms of a stroke.

Mrs Willsher said: “Sometimes, out of bad things can come good things.

“Every one of these children have grandparents, parents and other families and hopefully one day, by knowing how to spot a stroke, they could save someone’s life.”