NORRIE Jenkins, 76, was in Majorca for his son's wedding when he suffered a severe stroke in June this year.

His partner, Annie Andrews, a retired nurse, found him slumped on a bench outside their apartment. Twelve days before the trip the retired engineer had experienced a 'mini-stroke', or TIA, and the Glasgow couple had agonised over the decision to travel abroad.

Ms Andrews said: "Being a nurse, I knew it was a stroke right away - and a major one. I felt instantly sickened thinking we'd made the wrong choice in coming out, and then of course there was the language barrier of trying to tell the apartment manager that I needed an ambulance right away."

Ironically, the decision to go to Spain probably ensured the father-of-three made the best possible recovery since doctors in Palma were able to perform a thrombectomy, a procedure unavailable in Scotland.

READ MORE: Stroke patients in Scotland left 'significantly disabled' amid lack of thrombectomy op

"The doctor in Majorca told me that, in all probability, he would have been permanently disabled and that he probably would never have spoken again," said Ms Andrews.

"We'll never know, but the thrombolysis - which he would have got here - didn't work. He had no movement, no speech, so that's probably how he would have been."

After the Spanish medics operated on Mr Jenkins to physically remove the blood clot blocking his artery, he was transferred to intensive care.

Ms Andrews said: "I was absolutely amazed that he was able to speak again, although he was still quite confused. He also had regained movement to his arm and leg."

READ MORE: Doctors: Scots stroke victims 'missing out on recovery' amid lack of thrombectomy on NHS Scotland 

Ms Andrews, 69, stresses that the care her partner has received on the NHS since they returned has been "superb", but said it was "heartbreaking" that stroke patients in Scotland were missing out on thrombectomy.

She said: "When he's tired he's still got a weakness on his right-hand side and he will sometimes struggle to find his words. But on the whole, all the cognitive stuff has come back. He's started doing crosswords again. The only thing he's not back to yet is his golf.

“Our family is one of the lucky ones and that just isn’t fair. I believe that everyone who is suitable for this treatment should be able to get it."