An award-winning fashion designer on the road to recovery after suffering a stroke has opened up about how the ordeal taught her to live life to the fullest.

Vinnette Grant, 62, from Lewisham, was held in intensive care after the stroke in November 2017.

Speaking to News Shopper, she said: “I thought it was the end for me.”

But she added her determination to keep working and see her seventh grandson born kept her going throughout her struggle.

“All I wanted was to see my grandson, who was due in the January. I thought, ‘Please God, let me see him’.

“I couldn’t give up and it was because of my family.”

Recalling the day she fell ill, the former air hostess said: “I was out for a walk one morning and I just got slower and slower. I could not put one foot in front of the other.

“It was almost like a fuse had blown and it was disconnected somewhere. I thought something in my head had come loose.”

After calling a friend who helped her back home and into bed, Vinnette refused to go to the hospital because she did not think her condition was serious.

“She said, ‘Vinnette, you don’t sound right’, and I can remember slurring my words but I thought all I needed was to go home and have a good sleep.”

The grandmother-of-seven added she did not recognise her symptoms as being connected with a stroke because they did not fit the symptoms often described on TV adverts.

The next day, Vinnette’s worried son came to her house to take her to Lewisham Hospital.

“He had to walk me, step by step, to the hospital. I only live around the corner from the hospital but could barely make the walk there,” Vinnette described.

Two years and two brain surgeries later, Vinnette is on the road to recovery after having to learn to walk again.

A fashion designer for decades, she was terrified she would lose full use of her hands and her creativity. But just last year, Vinnette and her daughter took her designs to Dubai Fashion Week – followed by New York Fashion Week in February.

“The reason I’m doing this is because I don’t know if there’s another stroke around the corner. I’m just going to do this now and make the most of it.

“I’m a stubborn old mule really. I’ve got too much to do. Somebody stop me,” she joked.

Vinnette’s incredible recovery has been recognised by a ‘Beautiful Survivors Award’ from Ladies of All Nations International.

She has also been invited on TV programmes to talk about her experience and her designs.

“Before the stroke, I probably would have said no. I’m quite shy. But it’s made me not procrastinate.

“I want my family to see a strength and a determination. I want that for them because if you haven’t got that it’s so easy to give up.”