My name is Mariana Hibert, I'm Mexican and I'm a social worker. My brain injury story begins in my adolescence when I was diagnosed at the age of 19 with Takayasu's Arteritis. a rare genetic and immune disease affecting the circulatory system. It's seen as an arterial inflammation causing an obstruction or aneurysm towards any vital organs. In my case, both of the carotids were occluded, so the blood irrigation of the brain was insufficient.
Something didn’t feel right. I felt like my vision had changed. I was aware that I couldn’t see the full windscreen from my position in the driver’s seat. This was odd. I thought it was a migraine so I decided to leave the car, take my son on a short walk to my father’s house, take some paracetamol and have a lie down.
On September, 21st 2023, while I was out for my usual 5am run on Tawa Street, I got hit by a car. Running was a big part of my life. That morning, my dad found me. My eye socket was blown out, but thankfully, I didn't have any lasting eye problems.
In 2017, I sustained a traumatic brain injury from a fall in the Rocky Mountains and fractured my occipital bone, which is in the back of my skull. This caused my brain to bounce off the inside of my skull resulting in three large brain haemorrhages, nearly fatal cerebral oedema or swelling of my brain, loss of my sense of smell, and several new disabilities.
My mom received a phone call from the doctor telling her that their little baby girl, their six-month-old who seemed so strong and healthy, had suffered a stroke. What did that mean? Well, to put it plainly, the news my mom received that day was that Hannah would likely never walk, talk, or reach adulthood.
I didn’t initially know what was happening when I awoke from sleep with the worst headache of my life. I wanted to get up, but I had trouble standing. Then, the vomiting began. Luckily, my husband took me to the emergency room where a scan revealed the cause: a subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Aged 30, on December 30, 2023, I went to bed feeling fine but woke up never feeling the same. Whilst I was sleeping, I had a subarachnoid brain aneurysm which burst and led me to have two surgeries and being medically induced into a coma for five days.
Unfortunately, due to the aneurysm rupturing, I had added complications. The aneurysm was close to my carotid artery and it was touch and go what the outcome of it would be.
People around me noticed changes in my behavior and questioned if I was okay. Despite multiple visits to the doctor and medications, it was numbness in my face and tongue that finally led me to visit A&E.
Thanks to my mom’s unwavering persistence, I was given a CT scan which revealed shadowing on my brain. An MRI then confirmed a 3.2 cm giant aneurysm near my brain stem, posing a significant rupture risk.
During a high school playoff game, I was fouled while going up for a lay-up and slammed my head on the hardwood floor.
I was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with a major concussion. During the MRI, doctors noticed a “shadow” on my cerebellum that required consistent monitoring to ensure it didn't grow.
I sought out one of the best neurologists in New York and ended up at Columbia Presbyterian in Manhattan.
I had a massive stroke that affected my left brain. I was healthy, going out, taking care of my two kids and a husband, and working full time. Out of the blue, I fell back to my bed and slumped down to the floor. I thought...‘oh my, this is going to be it’.