'I thought my three-year-old had pins and needles - it was actually his eighth stroke'

'I thought my three-year-old had pins and needles - it was actually his eighth stroke' Cat Davies could not understand why her son, Henry, was making a strange noise when he laughed - until doctors diagnosed him A mum who thought her young son had pins and needles or was simply "being silly" was left stunned when doctors revealed he had actually suffered multiple mini strokes. Cat Davies said the first signs were so brief that she never imagined they pointed to a life-threatening condition. Cat, 38, from Crowthorne, Berkshire, first noticed something was wrong in October 2025 when her son Henry, then aged three, started laughing strangely while playing with his cousin. He also became unsteady on his feet, but the episode lasted only a couple of minutes before he returned to normal. "I thought it was pins and needles or he was being silly," Cat said. "It only lasted one or two minutes, so I just disregarded it." Over the following weeks, Henry had one or two more similar episodes, but they disappeared almost as quickly as they began. It wasn't until one evening at bedtime that Cat realised something was seriously wrong. While reading Henry a story, Cat noticed him laughing even though nothing in the book was funny. When he tried to stand up to reach a toy plane hanging from the ceiling, he struggled to keep his balance. "He was wobbly and he couldn't stand up," she said. "At first I thought maybe it was pins and needles or he was being silly." Moments later, Cat noticed the right-hand side of Henry's body had become weak and the corner of his mouth had drooped. Unable to speak, he started making unusual grunting noises instead. "That's when I recognised the signs of stroke," Cat said. "I shouted to my husband, 'I think he's having a stroke.'" The couple immediately called 999 before Henry was taken to their local hospital and later transferred to Southampton Hospital. Doctors carried out 23 tests in 24 hours, including MRI scans, blood tests and examinations of his heart. The results revealed Henry had been experiencing transient ischaemic attacks (TIAs), also known as mini strokes, caused by blood clots in his brain. Cat said she had no idea children could suffer strokes and was shocked by the diagnosis. "They didn't know what caused them," she said. "I didn't even know children could get strokes, and I have quite a lot of medical knowledge." A consultant suggested Henry's chickenpox infection six months earlier may have been a possible trigger, although tests found no remaining trace of the virus. Cat said Henry had been due to receive his chickenpox vaccine the same week he was diagnosed. "You just can't help but think 'what if'," she said. "If we'd just got the vaccine quicker or not taken him to nursery that day, none of this could have happened." Now aged four, Henry has not suffered another stroke since his diagnosis and is due to start school in September. Although scans showed he had experienced eight strokes and sustained some brain damage, Cat said he is currently showing no symptoms. "You would never know what happened to him," she said. "Right now, he's not presenting any symptoms of brain damage. He's happy and healthy." The ordeal left both Cat and her husband Ian struggling to come to terms with what had happened. Cat has since undergone counselling and admits she still worries whenever Henry behaves differently. "Any time he's a bit silly, I just get scared," she said. "Is there going to be another one?" Wanting to help other families facing similar experiences, Cat decided to write a children's book inspired by Henry's journey after failing to find one that reflected what he had been through. Harry's Wibbly Wobbly Moments has now been self-published, with all profits going to the Stroke Association and the Paediatric Neurology department's Amazon Wishlist. "I'm not doing this to make money," Cat said. "I just want to help other children like Henry."