My family suspected a stroke straight away and called 999.”The Stroke Association says that someone will have a stroke every three minutes without urgent action on prevention and care. The Stroke Association is expecting the number of people having a first or second stroke to increase to more than 151,000 a year by 2035. The Stroke Association is encouraging the public to help protect themselves against stroke by monitoring their blood pressure regularly and taking steps to keep it at a healthy level. The societal cost of stroke is expected to soar as the number of people having strokes increases. “With affirmative action, we can stop the number of people having strokes from spiralling even further out of control.”