A 22-year-old football fan shocked nurses when he spoke for the first time in four months to joke about a rival football team.
Darren Thomson, from Galashields, Scottish Borders, was rushed to hospital in June last year when he lost all feeling in the left side of his body while watching YouTube with a friend.
Scans revealed he had suffered a stroke and had a blood clot the size of a 10p coin on his brain.
He went through several operations but was unable to speak due to brain damage and having a tube down his throat while in intensive care.
Darren Thomson, 22, suffered a stroke when he was 20 years old while at home watching YouTube videos with a friend
He suddenly couldn't feel the right side of his body and was rushed to hospital where he had an operation to drain some fluid from the brain. Scans also revealed a blood clot the size of a 10p coin in the brain
He spoke again for the first time in four months when he heard nurses saying they supported Hearts (in red) rather than his favourite team Hiberian (green). He blurted out: 'Hearts are s**t'
The Hiberian FC fan, however, re-discovered his voice when he heard nurses talking about rival team Hearts.
Hearing them talk about how they supported his rivals, the shock caused him to blurt out: 'Hearts are s**t'.
And five months since his first words the young man's speech is getting better every day.
He's still in a wheelchair but hoping to be on his feet to be his dad's best man at his wedding later this year.
Darren said: 'It was so scary not being able to speak. It's so hard to put into words.
'I was so confused, I didn't even know what was happening or anything.
'But when I had a Hearts doctor looking after me, someone had said 'what's Hearts' and I just said 'Hearts are s**t'.
'It just came to me, I was so happy that I spoke out, everyone laughed.
'It felt so good to just hear my own voice again.'
The Hiberian FC fan spoke his first words four months after the stroke. He had had difficulty speaking due to brain damage and time spent in intensive care, where he had a tube down his throat for 12 weeks
Darren, who is still in a wheelchair, has got much of his speech back and hopes to be back on his feet to be best man for his dad's wedding day
Darren, from Galashields, Scottish Borders, had to have a second operation after he was taken off life support
Darren was at home when he started to feel a headache at the back and right side of his head.
The Hibs fan thought nothing of it until minutes later when he couldn't
