Nearly 10,000 strokes are experienced in New Zealand every year, but now a game that helps patients recover is being trialled.
It involves the patient directing a dolphin across a floor-to-ceiling screen to catch a fish while motion-sensitive cameras track all the movements. The game gives patients a jolt which stimulates more effective brain repair.
Newshub spoke to an 81-year-old stroke patient taking part in the trial.
Laurie Mathews looks like he could conduct an orchestra. It's hard to believe that just three weeks ago, his left arm was basically paralysed.
"There was a tendency for me to fall over, now I can balance myself with this arm," he said.
The 81-year-old Aucklander had a stroke last month. He'd just had an angiogram and noticed his left arm going numb.
"Virtually turned into a piece of meat that I couldn't move," he said. "It was very weird, I was putting a lot of energy into my arm, and nothing was happening."
The toll has been physical and mental. It was his first - and what he hopes is his last stroke.
But before we go any further, what is a stroke? Well, a stroke normally happens when a blockage - like a clot - blocks the blood flow to the brain or when a burst blood vessel bleeds into the brain. It's essentially a brain attack.
People can be left with a drooping face weakness in the arms or legs or speaking difficulties. Then there's loss of balance, vision changes, memory loss and confusion.
Nearly 10,000 strokes are experienced each year in New Zealand - that's one every 55 minutes. And stroke is our second single-biggest killer and the leading cause of serious adult disability.
"It can be completely debilitating," said Auckland University neuroscience expert Professor Winston Byblow.
That's where this $1.5 million four-year trial can really help. Patients, like Mathews, play a specialized virtual reality game that helps rewire their brains and regain control of their nervous system.
"How it works is the camera, which is mounted just below the projector, can track Mathews's movements," Prof Byblow said.
The ones made by his affected left arm direct the dolphin to catch the fish.
"So it can build a model of his whole body. So, it uses that information to determine how well Mathews is moving, his weak side, and how to create the game so that he makes the best highest highest-quality movements possible," Prof Byblow said.
It's simple but effective. Mathews now has to do 90 minutes of upper limb therapy each weekday at Auckland University for three weeks. It's intense but, he said, worth it.
When he first arrived his arm was a dead weight which he could barely move. Today the pictures speak for themselves.
"I want to get back to what I normally do, what I could do," he said.
"As their function improves, it is really heartening to see just their confidence and forward planning that they can have a meaningful life after this life-changing event," said therapist Maxine Shanks.
Sixty patients have now taken part in the trial and it's hoped another 20 will complete it before next year. Patients can start as early as one week after their stroke. And finish, like Mathews, rehabilitated and with hope.
"He is a star," Prof Byblow exclaimed.
