Survivor Stories

Portrait: Lizzy

I am a survivor of an inoperable benign brain tumor. They gave me two weeks to live but I was blessed with a wonderful doctor who was able to get the brain tumor completely removed from my head.

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Portrait: Mark

I was 33 years old when I had a Non-Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage. I remember the exact moment it happened; my mouth lost all its saliva, and I became dizzy. I went and sat down and immediately felt a sudden rush from my spine to the top of my head.

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Portrait: Glen

I was 33 years old when I had my stroke. When I got to the hospital the doctor who greeted me at the door was one of my clients who is stroke specialist, so I knew they suspected that this might be the issue.

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Portrait: Morena

I am a young stroke survivor from Brazil. As an architect and also a Makeup Artist, I have always loved anything that would allow me to express myself and impact others in a positive way.

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Portrait: Stephen

I got hit by a car in June 2015. I suffered from 3 brain hemorrhages, a broken neck and an ABI.

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Portrait: Kevin

Back in 2015 I was an alcoholic battling suspected PTSD. One night I developed aspirated pneumonia. I was rushed to the hospital. From there, I spent weeks on a ventilator.

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Portrait: Elizabeth

I’m a media producer and a survivor of a ruptured AVM that happened in 1990 when I was thirty years old. 

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Portrait: Jenny

In May 2019, aged 32 years old, I contracted encephalitis. It started as a headache at the base of my skull, dizziness and vomiting. The hospital diagnosed me with migraine and vertigo before sending me back home.

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Portrait: Kelly

Just shy of my 25th birthday, I was on a date saying goodbye to a friend. As I stepped out of his vehicle, I got a whirling sensation in my head and high-pitched ringing in my ears and dropped to the ground.

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Portrait: Rolf

In 2020, I dissected both of my carotid arteries while swimming. My survival chance was 2% but I strongly believe that with rehab and willpower, you can achieve the unexpected.

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Portrait: Ruth

In 2016, I was doing well at work in Scotland, and I was about to start a new job in Cornwall when about a month before I was due to start, I had a stroke I was aged 30. 

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Portrait: Jaqueline

On November 12th, 2021, I woke up feeling fine, but while on a Zoom meeting, I heard a pop in my head and the room started spinning.

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Portrait: Samantha

My dad was working as a correctional officer at a juvenile facility. His radio was taken by an inmate, and while attempting to get it back, the inmate picked up my dad and slammed him into the concrete floor.

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Portrait: Bridget

I was 25 years old. I was married to the love of my life; we had an 18-month-old daughter and I was also 24 weeks pregnant with our son when I felt a "POP" in my head.

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Portrait: Suzanne

In November 2020 my fit and healthy 32-year-old wife Suzanne suffered a catastrophic subarachnoid hemorrhage.

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Portrait: Kyle

I had just returned from holiday when I started to feel really unwell and sick. I now know it was an AVM that had ruptured and I was suffering a bleed on the brain.

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Portrait: Liliana

I was washing my dog after being outside when a horrible pain in my head made everything foggy and surreal as I was standing up. 

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Portrait: Michelle & Danial

A big hurdle we came across in Danial's recovery were the delays and lack of awareness on hospital wards in meeting needs for an Autistic person’s 1-on-1 care.

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Portrait: Rose K

I am a survivor of 2 brain injuries within the course of a few years. One by rape and one from an aneurysm.

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Portrait: Myra K

I was approaching the end of my first year working as a Nurse Practitioner when I suddenly became the patient instead of the prescriber.

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