Burnley dad of three and former award winning TT races competitor speaks about his fight for life after suffering unprovoked attack in a bar and a stroke

For, two weeks after the shocking assault, which saw him hospitalised, requiring stitches in his mouth, Steve McDonald suffered a catastrophic stroke which almost claimed his life.

“In a year my entire life has changed in a way I could never have imagined,” said 55-year-old Steve who spent six months recovering from the stroke that left him paralysed down his right side.

And although it cannot be proved conclusively, doctors told Steve that the blow to the head he suffered in the assault at the bar in Rossendale could have caused the blood clot in his brain that led to the stroke.

As it is just over a year since the shocking incidents the former award winning TT race competitor said: “This is something I have to live with.”

Steve suffered the stroke after leaving work early feeling unwell. As he arrived at his home in the Rosehill area he suddenly felt himself feeling faint as he turned the key in his front door.

“It felt like someone was turning the volume down on me, “ said Steve. “I could feel myself fading but I managed to get inside the house where I fell to the floor. I fell on my right side and luckily my phone was in my left hand so I was able to press 999.”

The stroke had already taken Steve’s speech by this point and although he believed he was requesting an ambulance he was in fact only making unintelligible sounds.

Emergency services were able to track his address and when paramedics arrived they were on the point of leaving when they could not get an answer at the door. But Steve managed to alert them by shouting.

“There is no doubt if I hadn’t been able to get their attention I wouldn’t be here today, “ said Steve.

What followed for Steve was six months of treatment, physio and rehabilitation as he fought his way back to health. Thanks to his sheer determination to get well Steve has made a fantastic recovery from the stroke and is now back at his job as UK salesman for an international tyre company.

“I’m not 100 percent and probably never will be but, as someone who was reasonably fit and strong before these events, I was determined to get my life back, “ he said.

It was in the six months he spent recovering that Steve had time to think about his assailant and the fact that, even though the attack was caught on CCTV, the culprit has never been found.

Steve said: “I was able to tell the police what happened and the CCTV footage at the bar corroborated that. I was hit by someone I had no contact with or even spoken to as he left the bar.

"Despite an appeal by the police he has never been caught and will never be answerable for what he did.”