It has taken me almost 2 years, but today I received confimation; I HAVE PASSED MY CLASS 1 FAA MEDICAL!!!
it is time limited to 12 months but I really dont care
For anyone who is reading this, you might find what I have to say of use to you in the future should you ever be diagnosed with a disqualifying condition.
I started off by doing lots of research on the internet about medicals and reading the AME handbooks for the CAA, FAA and TCCA and I came to realise that, even if you have been diagnosed with a disqualifying condition, if you can prove that you no longer have the condition and/or that you have had the condition treated satisfactoraly, or you can otherwise prove that the
cause of the condition has been found and treated (so that it wont happen again), then you will get your medical!
So I went for MRI scans and after the results came back they found a tiny aneurysm in my right vertebral artery in my neck right at the exact point where I had reported having a sharp stinging pain during the time shortly before I had the stroke. It did not take long to realise that the pain in the neck was caused when I had taken a shunt from the side while go-karting 2 days earlier, which had damaged the wall of my right vertebral artery. The diagnosis was that after the artery was damaged, blood had forced its way in between the layers of the artery wall causing it to 'balloon' out restricting blood flow (which also explained why I had suddenly become extremely ill very shortly after the go-karting, and then became better again within 3 hours) and then a blood clot formed behind this blockage which broke free a couple days later as the swelling went down and so I had the stroke! And so the reason for the stroke was discovered, and I was discharged.
But before I was discharged I had explained to the neurologist about my aviation medical and that an aneurysm was a bad thing and so he booked me in for a '1 year later' MRI scan to see how things were doing, which I am glad I did!!! because they then found that no part of my brain was damaged, and by definition of a stroke there is always some damage to the brain even if its only a very tiny part. And so, my diagnosis was changed from stroke to a 'cerebrovascular event' caused by the pseudo-aneurysm. And this would never have happened if I had not explained about my aviation medical to the neurologists!!!
With this ammunition in hand, I went for my medical ( I decide to go for an FAA in the end because I want to do my training in America and spend some time outside of the UK
) and I took my medical and explained it all to my AME who deferred it to the FAA for their decission. The FAA wrote back and asked for copies of my scans and current status reports off my neurologist and allsorts of stuff like that, but after it all got sent they were satisfied and they allowed me to have my medical!
So I have been very lucky (and I also know craploads about aviation medicals now), but determination has played a BIG part. So if there is one bit if advice I can give to anyone who has been disqualified from a medical, it is do not give up until there is nothing more that can be done. See specialists, have tests/scans, do whatever you can do find the cause and then see if it can be treated. But whatever you do, do not assume that 'this is it, I have failed and can never pass again' because as soon as you think that way, then you have failed forever for sure.