England goalkeeper, Ellie Roebuck, suffered an occipital stroke in March 2024 at the age of only twenty-four. In a recent interview, she opened up about her health scare and the challenges she faced. Three hundred and three days later, she stepped back onto the pitch for a dream debut with Barcelona—a testament to her unwavering resilience, both physically and mentally.
In the summer of 2022, the Lioness was selected in the UEFA Women’s EURO winning squad. The following year she reached the UEFA Women’s World Cup final with England. During this period, she was reaching new heights in her career and seeing her biggest dreams come true. However, everything changed in the Spring of 2024.
Her diagnosis
Roebuck was a Manchester City player during the time of her stroke. At Christmas time, the goalkeeper began to feel under the weather and could not pinpoint the cause. At first, the club treated her for concussion when she expressed something was “not quite right”. With symptoms including nausea, dizziness, fatigue and changes in vision, she felt it was more than just a concussion. Having been concussed before, she requested a head scan and trusted her own judgement. She became increasingly worries and wanted some “peace of mind” from the scan.
However, just days later, she received a call from the club doctor, dreading the possibility of bad news. In her words:
“He sat me down and was like, ‘you’ve had an infarct in your left occipital lobe’. I asked, ‘what’s that in English?’ And then he said it was a type of stroke.”
Her immediate thought was “am I going to play football again?”.
Looking back, she opened up about the reality of her diagnosis. While she anticipated bad news, perhaps more than just a minor concussion, the thought of having a stroke at just twenty-four had never even crossed her mind. An occipital stroke is not hugely common; it affects the blood supply to the brain and the visual processing mechanism.
“I’m lucky because I should have lost my vision…the majority of people that suffer a stroke do.”
Yet, this health scare had a major impact on the footballer, and her perspective on life.
The stages of recovery
Immediately after hearing her scan results, Roebuck was taken to A&E for some more tests. Due to the stroke occurring around a month prior to her diagnosis, she was sent home with no more information. There was a constant anxiety that she would suffer another stroke, as the cause was unknown. As a consequence, she was “scared to do anything” without someone by her side.
Among the many pieces of advice she received, one struck the hardest—she was forbidden from exercising for at least twelve weeks, leaving the goalkeeper overwhelmed with emotion and worry.
“I wouldn’t walk my dog for like six weeks. I wouldn’t leave the house. I was scared to do anything on my own. And that was never me, I was always super independent.”
In just one day she went from being a professional footballer for Manchester City, to sitting at home in fear of experiencing another health scare.
After an arduous period of tests, the medical professionals eventually located a hole in her heart, which caused the stroke. In response to this discovery, “I was almost excited that I was going in for heart surgery” because it meant the uncertainty of a reoccurrence would be reduced. Although she was left frustrated with no clear reason behind her illness being found, she was grateful to feel she was given a “second chance”.
Throughout her recovery, the Lionesses felt isolated with nobody able to truly understand her experience. She took comfort in finding two former sportsmen: Tedy Bruschi and Petr Cech, as they too suffered from strokes or serious head injuries during their sporting careers.
“He touched on things that nobody else got. No matter how many times I tried to express myself, I couldn’t. Nobody could relate to what I was going through.”
Her recovery shaped her as an individual and taught her to value the little things in life. She looks back positively, grateful for the new relationships formed through her health scare, with those who helped her overcome the mental blocks of suffering such an unexpected stroke.
Her return to the pitch
After 303 days, Roebuck stepped back onto the football pitch in a competitive match. Having signed a pre-contract with Barcelona FC only two weeks prior to her diagnosis, the Lioness spent months in recovery with the ambition to make her debut at such a prestigious club. It was a dream of hers to play for the Spanish champions, and nothing was going to stop her from fulfilling it.
At Manchester City, Roebuck felt like she had a fractured relationship with manager, Gareth Taylor, which impacted her confidence in the net. A fresh start in a new country was the perfect solution for the goalkeeper, as she wanted to give herself the best possible opportunity to get minutes in the tank. But this became much more of a challenge than expected, following her stroke.
She showed an immense gratitude towards Barcelona for their patience and understanding of the hindered speed of her recovery process.
“Barcelona showed trust in me and for me, that was more important than anybody saying you can have a starting role. It’s the fact they showed confidence in me, and they wanted me here.”
Her return to training after six months away from the pitch was overwhelming, but she credits her teammates and coaching staff for welcoming her with open arms. Roebuck will thrive in this environment and values a club that respects and wants to develop her.
Roebuck is a resilient and determined individual, who deserves huge credit and applause for the manner in which she handled her health scare. Opening up about her challenges shows true character. She is a role model both on and off the pitch, proving that any challenge – no matter how big or small – can be overcome with the right mindset and desire to succeed. Spending several months building back her physical and mental strength, the goalkeeper has returned to doing what she loves at her dream club.
Photo – https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c87d7rn1ejvo
