Retired teacher: 'Scotland's bridge community brought me back to health'
Alice Cowieson was gravely ill but she credits bridge - and the bridge community - with bringing her back to health
As doctors battled to manage a bleed on her brain, the severity of her condition saw Alice Cowieson placed under a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) notice.
The 75-year-old spent weeks in Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital after suffering a stroke and respiratory arrest.
Ms Cowieson is now back to full health - and she credits her fortune to the support of Scotland’s bridge community.
“The night I collapsed, there was a do-not-resuscitate notice over me. That probably tells you how serious it was,” the former primary school drama teacher said.
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“Before this happened, I was fit, healthy, enjoying life. Then suddenly I was very seriously ill. I had to accept that.
“Bridge started as something to keep my mind sharp in retirement, but it became so much more than that.
“When I was seriously ill, it gave me something to work towards.”
Ms Cowieson, from Dairsie, near Cupar, Fife, was diagnosed with vasculitis last summer.
She spent several weeks at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy while doctors tried to manage a clot on her lung and a bleed on her brain.
Ms Cowieson faced a long recovery, including fatigue, sight problems and difficulty concentrating.
Bridge, which she had first taken up 18 years earlier, became one of the things that helped her begin to feel like herself again.
After retiring from teaching and stepping back from amateur dramatics, including directing and producing local productions in Cupar and Tayport, Ms Cowieson thought she would try bridge.
She took up the card game to “keep her mind sharp” in retirement after a 25-year teaching career.
What began as one lesson a week soon grew into regular practice sessions with other beginners over tea and cake.
It then became central to her life as she later joined Dundee Bridge Club, became editor of its magazine, and went on to serve as club president.
Ms Cowieson now plays up to five days a week, sometimes six, and has competed around Scotland, including against grand masters.
She said: “Bridge definitely keeps your brain working. There is so much skill to it. You have to be on the ball – you can’t not.
During her hospital stay, Ms Cowieson said the bridge community “rallied round”, visiting her, sending cards and even playing hands with her as she recovered.
“At first I could only manage a few hands before my concentration went,” she said.
“But gradually I built it back up. Bridge helped me recover mentally as well as physically.”
After three months away from the club, Ms Cowieson returned first to a social session, then to an online competition with her regular partner to test whether she could last a full session.
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“When I finally got back to the table, it felt great,” she said.
“I felt as if I had succeeded in kicking this into touch. I can drive, I can walk, I can talk, I can play bridge five days a week and I can potter in the garden. I am so lucky.”
Scottish Bridge is campaigning for more Scots to take up the card game.
Scotland on Sunday told how research is increasingly showing that bridge can be a useful education tool, teaching young people analytical and soft skills.
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