Two weeks ago on Saturday Tweed Valley producer Neil Baker had his focus on feeding pigs, not minding his own health.
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But as the farm ute rolled to a stop outside the shed there appeared to be a problem. No amount of pressure from his right leg would compress the vital pedals beneath the steering wheel.
"I pulled on the handbrake with my left arm and came to a stop," Mr Baker recalled. "But when I tried to step out of the vehicle I collapsed to the ground. I had no strength in my right side.
"It was like a switch had been flicked."
Mr Baker was familiar with stroke management, having completed a first-aid course in years past. One time he had to make the emergency call to report a friend in distress with stroke.
"But this time it didn't dawn on me. All I had on my mind was to feed those pigs and yet I couldn't stand up."
In his head the thought patterns were normal and as he pondered his new predicament he went through the day's list of jobs.
"There was no way I could complete them, so I rang my wife Michelle but when I tried to speak the words came out all garbled. It was then that I realised what was going on and I collapsed."
There is a crucial time-limit for stroke patients to get to a hospital, have a CAT-scan, and through innovative tele-health be assessed by a city-based specialist.
This is necessary because the life-saving drug that can bust lethal blood clots in the brain will worsen the problem in a bleed situation.
The deadline to receive that medication expires after 4:30 hours, yet the median arrival time is 4:25 - and assessment can take another 45 minutes.
Mr Baker counts himself fortunate that he was in the emergency room after just one hour - including the ten minutes he spent "dithering" over what jobs needed doing.
Even so, in that time 60 million brain cells were destroyed - at the rate of 1m/minute.
"Time is really of the essence," reflected Mr Baker, who recovered very well and walked free from hospital two days later. When The Land caught up with him he had already sat astride an Angus bull to prove his come-back and was that morning relocating a cattle grid with the excavator.
"I can't stop," he said. "There's too much to do."
Farmers are disproportionately represented in stroke cases with less than favourable outcomes and it's because of that "she'll be right" attitude, or because work gets in the way.
Key to Mr Baker's amazing recovery was swift reaction by Michelle who called the Ambulance on 000 which immediately recognised the signs of drooping face, arms unable to be raised and slurred speech. They understood the importance of time and rushed him the 30 minutes to Tweed Hospital. The acted in line with the slogan of awareness, FAST, which stands for Face, Arms, Speech and Time.
"People really need to take ownership of their condition and call for help," Mr Baker said, noting that early warning signs should not be ignored.
According to Stroke Foundation figures, fewer than 40pc of patients get to hospital in time.
"It's a common misconception that strokes only happen to the elderly, but around 29 strokes a day happen to working aged Australia (people aged between 18 and 64) says CEO of the Stroke Foundation, Lisa Murphy, who points to figures stating 17pc higher rates of stroke in rural and regional areas.
"It has to do with access to health services," she said.
"In remote areas services are not available, regular health checks are harder to access and patients have a tendency not to look after themselves.
"But the evidence is there that quick assessment works and the State Government has invested in this technology that gives better outcomes and enables patients to return to their community."
