I was an active rugby player - but then a deadly stroke hit me at 34 and wrecked my memory...I ignored the warning signs like thousands of other young men

A rugby player left with permanent memory loss from a shock 'double stroke' that hit at just 34 has warned of the signs the attack was about to strike.Hylton Smith, now 46, from Shropshire, thought he was 'relatively healthy' before the life-threatening event happened in 2014; a keen sportsman who had active week days working on construction sites. But unbeknownst to him, a congenital heart defect was a ticking time bomb, dramatically increasing the risk of a blood clot travelling to the brain and triggering stroke.Up to one in four people carry the same problem as Mr Smith - a hole in the heart - but in the vast majority of cases it causes no symptoms, and patients don't even realise they have it.But poor diet, obesity and a lack of exercise can lead to high cholesterol, which puts more strain on an already vulnerable heart, increasing the risk of complications like stroke and heart failure.Now, over a decade later, the father-of-one has reflected on some of the lifestyle habits that may have contributed to his stroke.'I’d eat lots of Greggs!' he said. 'Lots of drinking, rugby tours – I’m sure they take off about three or four years of your life every time you go on one.'You were fit, because you were training twice a week and then playing the game, but I think the health benefits are probably overweighed by the amount of drinking you do and the amount of rubbish you eat. Hylton Smith said the stroke was a wake up call that triggered a drastic change in lifestyle'When I drove around for work I got into the habit of not taking lunch, and stopping to eat takeaways – it was just being lazy.'Mr Smith's ordeal began one weekday morning in 2014, when he woke up with a terrible headache.'It felt like someone was putting a six-inch nail through my right temple,' he said. He continued trying to get ready for work, but felt confused and disoriented, recalling 'dribbling' on his 18-month-old daughter, Darcy, who was resting in her cot. His wife Hayley, now 44, came into the nursery to check on him, and found him 'speaking gibberish'.Concerned, she drove him to their local hospital, where doctors told him they believed he was having a migraine and sent him home with some painkillers. However, the following day - after 23 hours of sleep - the unbearable headache remained. 'A bit of my speech had come back at that point but I still didn’t really know where I was,' he says. A scan revealed a hole in his heart, which can significantly increase the risk of stroke 'And obviously my wife was worried that something [more serious] had gone on.'A visit to his GP proved fruitful, with the doctor suspecting a stroke although advising that he may face a significant delay for a scan on the NHS. He sought out a private scan which ultimately revealed he had in fact had a double stroke - two attacks occurring in short succession - and was prescribed blood thinners to try to prevent it from happening again.A stroke is when blood stops flowing to a part of the brain, affecting multiple functions like speech and movement.There are three main types of stroke including an ischaemic stroke - when a blood clot blocks blood flow to the brain, a haemorrhagic stroke, which is caused by a burst blood vessel, and a TIA or 'mini stroke', which is when the symptoms last less than 24-hours.The idea that he might have a stroke had never occurred to Mr Smith, who assumed he was 'unbreakable'.Smith's scan also revealed that he had a hole in his heart that had been present since he was born, which he had no prior knowledge of.Normally, a blood clot would be pumped into the lungs by the right side of the heart. But if there is a hole in the organ the clot can slip into the left side where it has easier access to the brain. Mr Smith has since shed three stone, but back on booze and enjoys regularly football gamesIn 2015, Mr Smith had an operation to patch the hole in his heart, and he has had no complications since. He now takes one blood thinner a day, and a statin tablet a day to lower his cholesterol, though he has been told the latter is purely as a precaution.He has also since lost three stone by switching to a healthy diet and playing in a football league for overweight men who want to get fitter called Man V Fat. 'I kick myself that I waited for the wake-up call before getting things in place,' he says.'I wish I’d listened to people who gave you advice throughout life to lose weight or just maintain your weight, but instead it was more clever to go out and eat that extra kebab.'Don’t get me wrong, I’m no angel, and it was brilliant at the time, but…I am really lucky today that I’ve got a second go at changing things.' Other - just as common - tell-tale signs of a looming stroke, often fall under the radar. These include sudden numbness on one side of the body, sudden vertigo and difficulty swallowing While he considers himself fortunate, Mr Smith still struggles with memory loss today, as a result of his stroke.'The amount of times I’d say "shall we book a hospital?" instead of "shall we book a hotel?" – it drives me nuts,' he says.Mr Smith is keen to warn young men that they're not immune to suffering life-threatening health conditions that are traditionally associated with the elderly.'Your body’s not unbreakable,' he says. 'Sadly, my wake-up call was from having a stroke, but I’m sure I could have avoided it or helped to avoid it if I’d have just taken my health a bit more seriously.'Still go out and have your party, still live life and experience lots of new things, but just try and take it a bit more seriously.'Mr Smith's story comes amid a troubling rise in stroke among young men. A recent MailOnline analysis of NHS data revealed that strokes among men aged under 39 have jumped by nearly a quarter over the last two decades.The Stroke Association has previously predicted that the number of 45-year-olds and above being affected will have risen by 59 per cent between 2018 and 2035.