All Survivor Stories

While fighting leukemia, Madeleena had a stroke which changed the course of her young adult life.

On January 13th, 2022, after a week of extreme headaches, I had a seizure and stroke in the car as my mother drove me to the ER. A neurosurgeon quickly identified an AVM hemorrhage and began to operate. A third of my skull was removed so the AVM could be removed, and I sat in a coma (possibly sedated) for a month with a tracheotomy.

Trying to understand what was going on, I went to an otorhinolaryngologist and a neurologist, but they said everything was fine. The conclusion was that most likely this was the effect of anesthesia after an operation. An MRI was ordered, but unfortunately, the results showed that I had suffered a micro stroke.

After waking up in the morning, Kevin felt a pain like he had never felt. It subsided for a short time, then bang! It was back again. A brain hemorrhage had occurred.

Mary experienced a traumatic brain injury aged 2 years old. She tells us about the lifelong impact of a fall as a toddler.

On New Year’s Eve, 2001, I was about to get high on the purest drugs. Sadly, it was in the neurosurgery prep room.

Tobias is a brain injury survivor who had to learn to walk, eat and talk again after suffering a devastating aneurysm. He spoke of the “moving” moment he crossed the finish line after taking part in SameYou’s Cycle Ibiza challenge.  

I got married on 2nd May 2021. My husband and I had been married a whole 16 days before I sustained a TBI.

At 28, I was leading a healthy, active life. After an optometrist appointment to identify the cause of my persistent headaches, I was handed a sealed envelope and told to go directly to the hospital. What followed, was emergency brain surgery.