By Emma Innes PUBLISHED: 11:30 EST, 18 October 2013 | UPDATED: 11:30 EST, 18 October 2013 Deborah Ballard (pictured with her husband, Guy), 53, had a stroke in February and another mini-stroke on Sunday after which she noticed her voice had changed A stroke victim was left in shock after waking up to find she was speaking in a Welsh accent. Deborah Ballard, 53, from Eastbourne, East Sussex, only realised she was suffering with foreign accent syndrome - where people's voices can change following trauma - when she was calling in her pets from the garden. Mrs Ballard suffered a stroke in February and a transient ischaemic attack - known as a mini stroke - on Sunday when she was at her job as a senior care assistant.
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Deborah Ballard, 53, from East Sussex, had a stroke in February and a mini-stroke on Sunday after which she noticed her voice had changed
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She is thought to have developed foreign accent syndrome
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She says she was initially embarrassed about it but that her family have said it is 'sweet'
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She said she couldn't put her finger on where her new accent was from but that friends and family said she sounded @placeholder.