Ellie Roebuck’s rollercoaster of a recovery from a shocking stroke, and how she is overcoming it to get back to her full potential.

A stroke can affect everything about you, no matter the type of stroke. It can affect the way you live your life in many different ways, and can also have an effect on the families of the victims, as they help the victim to string their life back together.

Ellie Roebuck is a 25 year old English footballer, who plays as a goalkeeper for Barcelona, and has been a part of the Lionesses, being a part of the squad for EURO 2022, which was won by England, as well as the 2023 Women’s World Cup, in which England were the runners up. She previously played for Barclays Women’s Super League team Manchester City from 2016 to 2024, and is now continuing her journey as part of Liga F’s top team. Ellie first became a football fan as a child, and started off playing grassroots football with Beighton Magpies in Sheffield, later joining Sheffield United’s Centre of Excellence, where she stayed until the age of 15, before moving to Manchester City.

In February 2024, Ellie discovered that she had suffered a stroke, a type of stroke called an Occipital Infarct. This particular type of stroke can occur in either one or both of the occipital lobes; Ellie suffered it in her left lobe. The stroke mainly affects the function of the brain and most commonly can affect your vision. On 30th March 2024, Ellie disclosed this on her Instagram, saying “Thankfully, there is no lasting damage to my brain function or vision.”

Ellie recently spoke to BBC Sport about her journey, and mentioned how she started off feeling very nauseous and dizzy, but never thinking as far as a stroke being the reason for it all. After a training session one evening with Manchester City, Ellie described it as “something’s just not right”, and decided to get a scan on her head, as a “peace of mind” for herself, to get to the bottom of her illness and what was going on. The tests confirmed that she had suffered a stroke, something that nobody ever wants to hear. The stereotypes of strokes overpower a lot when it comes to talking to people who have never experienced it, such as losing the ability to speak, drooping on one side of the face and more, but most commonly, that strokes happen to more older people. However, this is not the case, and a stroke can happen to anyone at any age, even if you are perfectly healthy.

In her interview with BBC Sport, Ellie said that the first thing she said when she was told of her diagnosis was “Will I ever play football again?”

When asked about how lucky she was with the stroke, and being able to play football again, Ellie said, “I'm lucky because I should have lost my vision, I should have lost my peripheral vision for sure. The majority of people that suffer a stroke [like mine] do that. So, I probably should have been blind, which is quite a miracle that that didn't happen. You almost have to think that it’s a miracle that you got given a second chance but you’re also so angry that it happened, because I think ‘why?’ so I think I value life a lot more now, I was stuck in a real cycle of football being everything, and it’s still everything, but now it doesn’t define me as a person.”

Since recovering from her stroke, Ellie left Manchester City after 9 years, saying “It will always be home.” Soon after, she signed a deal with Liga F’s Barcelona, playing amongst some of Spain’s top players, such as Aitana Bonmati, Alexia Putellas and Ona Batlle. After signing a two-year deal for the club, Ellie continued her rehabilitation journey with Barcelona, and was included in the matchday squad on 9th October 2024 for the first time. However, she was on the bench, not making her debut for Barcelona until a long 19 months after her previous game, which was with Manchester City. Ellie’s debut was on 7th December 2024, and she received an outpouring of love from teammates, former teammates, friends, family and fans, who have all followed her journey from the beginning. 

Whilst recovering from her stroke, Ellie spoke with former Chelsea player Petr Cech, who played as a goalkeeper throughout his career. On 14th October 2006, Cech suffered a head injury while playing for Chelsea, after colliding with Reading’s Stephen Hunt. After being taken off very early in the game and having many tests in hospital, it was revealed that Cech had suffered a depressed skull fracture, which at the time the doctors confirmed it nearly took Cech’s life. Cech returned to play around three months later, but wore a head guard for a long time afterwards as he was still recovering from his accident. In a phone call between Ellie and Petr, Ellie explained that she hid the stroke from her Manchester City teammates, admitting to feeling “lonely” at the time, but not wanting to share the news with her team due to “fractured relationships” with City’s manager Gareth Taylor. Ellie is not the first player who has briefly spoken about the negative relationship she had with her manager, with Chloe Kelly recently speaking out about the way she had been treated by him, causing her mental health to be at stake. Chloe has since moved to Arsenal on loan, but it is rumoured that she will sign a permanent deal with the Gunners in the summer. “I had a call with him for about two hours and it was amazing.” Ellie said regarding her conversation with Petr Cech. “Although it wasn’t directly the same situation, it was someone I could relate to going through a similar thing. He touched on things that nobody else got. No matter how many times I tried to express myself, I couldn’t. Nobody could relate to what I was going through, but he is now a good friend of mine, and he came to watch me train [recently] in Barcelona, so there are positives to come out of it, such as the new relationships I’ve formed.”

Ellie has had a remarkable journey, and is continuing to inspire girls and women all over the world to keep pursuing their dreams no matter what life throws at them.

Ellie described her symptoms as nausea, dizziness, blurred vision and feeling off. There are many other symptoms for different types of strokes which must be looked out for, and treated as quickly as possible. The most common symptoms of strokes include drooping of one side of the face, slurred speech and not being able to tighten your grip on things or hold your arms up in front of you. This can also be paired with the symptoms that Ellie experienced. It is so important to get checked, or get someone the help they need as quickly as possible when you think you or someone else is having a stroke, as the quicker it is treated, the more hopeful you can be for recovery.