We'll often leave our 'Nan down's' at home, if they haven't injured themselves then it is more risky to take them to hospital than to leave them at home.

This one we would have to remove from her spotless house and take her to hospital. She would be staying, probably for a long time.

Out patient, until the moment she fell, was normally very mobile. She would walk down to the shops to buy her food, she was able to keep her house clean and squared away. There was no need for a stair-lift, nor other mobility aids. Given my knees she was probably more mobile than I am for much of the time.

But suddenly, one evening, her legs had given way on her.

When we picked her up, her fingernails left crescent marks on my arms, she was so frightened of falling. She was barely able to take a step, it was as if she had aged twenty years in a minute.

It wasn't the fear of falling again, that much was certain. Instead something had happened that had completely removed her ability to balance properly.

My assessment didn't show anything neurologically wrong with her, but it would seem most likely that she had suffered a stroke. Something that affected her balance and had struck out of nowhere was unlikely to be an ear or urine infection.

She had no next-of-kin, no carers, no support. She had gone from being able to look after herself to needing hospital treatment in a matter of moments.

Yet she was lucky, if it was a stroke it had left her mind untouched, she was able to communicate, to read, to carefully smoke a cigarette. But her legs were 'gone'.

Hopefully it would resolve itself, with time and work from the physiotherapists I'm hopeful that she would be able to regain the ability to walk.

She might need a bit of help, maybe a bit of support. A community alarm and maybe some handrails. Maybe a stairlift and someone to help with the shopping.

And one day I hope that she'll be able to go back to her home and live like she did before she became a 'Nan down'.