{"id":30504,"date":"2026-08-05T09:40:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/?p=30504"},"modified":"2026-08-05T09:43:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:43:43","slug":"from-engineering-leader-to-stroke-advocate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/friends\/from-engineering-leader-to-stroke-advocate\/","title":{"rendered":"From engineering leader to stroke advocate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Growing up, Johanna Barron-Perry dreamed of becoming an engineer after watching her father, a mechanical engineer, help build most of Australia\u2019s major power stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But in school, she was told that girls couldn\u2019t be engineers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She proved them wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jo went on to study engineering at university, where she was one of four women in her first-year cohort – the largest female intake the course had ever seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Johanna studied engineering at university, where she was one of four women in her first-year cohort.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 30 years later, she has built an impressive career in leadership, holding senior roles with global mining companies including Rio Tinto and BHP, as well as the Victorian Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the surface, she was excelling in her career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But underneath, Jo was a ticking time bomb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the time, she was navigating a new role after years of job uncertainty, menopause, relocation to a new state, a difficult divorce with financial stress while raising her daughter and managing her ongoing high blood pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Johanna working underground at BHP Olympic Dam.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had developed gestational hypertension during a high-risk pregnancy that was expected to resolve after my daughter’s birth, but my blood pressure never fully returned to normal,\u201d Jo said.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLooking back, my condition worsened because it was not managed consistently, both by me and within the healthcare system, due to the challenges of living remotely with limited access to specialist care and competing life priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the years passed, this personal burden compounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One day while she was unpacking from a weekend interstate trip visiting her daughter, a lingering headache persisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not thinking much of it, she brushed it off and went to bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few hours later, she woke to a sharp pain at the base of her head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, her mouth went numb, followed by a tingling sensation that travelled down her left side from the top of her head to the tips of her toes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt first, I thought I was having an allergic reaction, but when I tried to get out of bed, I couldn\u2019t,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt took a few minutes to make the effort to do it, and then I could barely stand up, like I was drunk.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Staggering to the bathroom, she tried to make sense of what was happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLooking in the mirror, I noticed a slight facial droop, and when I tested my balance, I nearly fell over,\u201d Jo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n