‘I learned to play guitar with one arm after a stroke’

An Inverness man has managed to restart his music career despite suffering a stroke that left him unable to speak or walk – by teaching himself to play the guitar with one hand.

Tony Romain spent seven months in the hospital recovering. A stroke The one that hit him “out of the blue” two years ago.

The 49-year-old father-of-four was found by his wife Lynn lying on their sofa, unable to move or crying for help because the blood supply to his brain had been cut off.

However, earlier this year he took to the stage to play his first gig since the incident with plans for more shows in 2025.

“I couldn’t imagine not doing music in my life,” says Tony, who was initially unable to swallow after a stroke.

“When people said I might not play again, I wasn’t going to listen to it. Maybe part of me was like, ‘I’m going to prove you wrong,’ but I just had to come back. To play again.”

A music enthusiast since childhood, Tony regularly played gigs around Inverness. In 2022 he forced himself to play a couple of shows despite feeling sick – not realizing that within days doctors would be telling his family to prepare for the worst.

“The day after the gig I had a rest day, so I was sitting on the sofa and ordering a takeaway.

“By the time the takeaway got there, I was having trouble moving around but I just thought I was tired and under the weather. I never thought it would be anything like a stroke.

“When everyone was going to bed, I was saying I was going to stay there for a while, and I laid down. The next thing I knew, I couldn’t move at all. I started screaming, and felt Don’t say “I can.”

“I lay there all night, lying awake and thinking ‘what’s going on?’

Tony’s wife Lynn came downstairs early the next morning and discovered her husband, quickly calling for an ambulance.

However, doctors said there was nothing they could do to break the clot in his brain stem that caused the paralysis.

“My family was told the day I went in that I might not be here tomorrow. I was having trouble breathing and had tubes going in and out.”

The stroke was so severe that Tony had to be fed through tubes for several weeks while being cared for in Inverness. Rigmore HospitalFirst in the ICU and then in the stroke unit.

He then moved to RNI Community Hospital for another five months. Rehabilitation and Physio.

Although the initial goals were just to help Tony walk again, he was already thinking about playing the guitar.

“The first thing the physiotherapist said to me was that she just wanted me to sit up. I said to her ‘I don’t know how to do it’, so she helped me, and finally In the car was able to sit on the edge of the bed, “he says.

“That was the beginning. But to be honest, I was thinking about music from the first day in the hospital.

“There were a lot of things going through my head at the time but I was thinking I would have to cancel the jig and I was trying to figure out how I was going to do it.”

At times progress was slow, and Tony recalls how his brain needed to be “taught” that his leg was still there and could work.

As he continued to progress with his body, he was able to try playing the guitar again, even though his left hand and arm were out of action.

“I didn’t know how I was going to do it,” he recalls.

“It’s not like I could just go to a guitar teacher, but once I figured out certain techniques it became a matter of practicing them, which was easy.”

The first song he learned again. Eleanor Rigby by The BeatlesWith a stripped back arrangement to make it easy.

He could find inspiration in the likes of former Orange Juice singer Edwin Collins. In 2005, he suffered a heart attack after a brain haemorrhage But later returned to performing and making music.

Soon Tony was not only re-learning old songs but also working on new material, and in August the song Standing Stone was released on streaming services.

Another milestone came the same month when he played a gig for the first time in two years, taking the stage for 30 minutes at the Rose Street Foundry in Inverness.

“I was absolutely exhausted,” he recalls.

“I finally stood up out of my wheelchair and my legs were shaking. But I’m growing in stamina all the time – I’m hoping to do an hour and a half, maybe split into two sets of 45 minutes, with my For the next gigs.”

The purpose of these upcoming gigs will also be to help others.

He is hoping to raise funds. Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland Their next show at the Tooth and Claw in Inverness will be a benefit, as they help him recover from a stroke in the coming months. Oxygen works Charity in the city.

“When I was in the hospital, I saw people who had given up, and it made me really sad,” he explains.

“I get it, it’s a scary thing to go through but I don’t want anyone to give up – I want people to know you can get through it.”