Fred became mildly impaired on the left side of his body, because of damage to the right half of his brain caused by the stroke. A stroke is caused by poor blood flow to the brain, this poor blood flow is usually caused by a block in the brain's arteries. The result is cell death in the brain. For Fred this was a sudden bleeding, or so-called intra cerebral haemorrhage (ICH). 

After the stroke happened Fred went through 13 weeks of physical therapy in a rehabilitation centre. The goal of physiotherapy in the case of a stroke victim is not to restore the muscle strength but to stop the impaired muscles from seizing. This is why Fred still deals with some imparities of his left side of his body, including a spastic left foot and reduced left-hand mobility. The spastic left foot resulted in his largest toe pointing upwards, making walking and standing very difficult and intensive. He also has difficulties straightening his fingers and controlling fine motoric movements. This is explained by the fact that the participants muscles have started to seize, causing his flexor muscles and extensor muscles to work against each other. This usually results in a stiff and usually immobile joint. (Ward, 2021)