Ashley, AVM Survivor

During May 2020, a couple of days after I completed my junior year at Texas A&M, I was taking a shower and had an the most intense paid in my head. I don’t remember anything after the pain started, but I called my mother screaming about the pain and she said to call 911. I was unconscious within minutes and wasn’t able to call 911. My mom called my roommate and an ambulance was called. I was only a few minutes from a small emergency room in College Station, Texas. When I arrived, I was still non-responsive, so a brain scan was quickly performed and the doctor called my parents to tell them that I was having a devastatingly large brain bleed and the doctor did not expect me to live. However, there is a bigger hospital 6 miles away with a neurology team and a care flight had already been called, so the ER room care flighted me to the larger hospital in Bryan, Texas. Jason Hoover was the neurologist on duty and he worked a miracle to save my life. The medical community was surprised I survived such a large brain bleed and contributed the quick responsiveness of all involved for saving my life. My surgery was completed less than 3 hours after the AVM rupture occurred.

To save my life, Dr. Hoover had to remove the part of my brain that was hemorrhaging, my left cerebellum. Unfortunately, the left cerebellum is the part of the brain that controls movement, balance, vision, and language. I was in a coma initially, but when I woke up I had lost all ability to move any part of my body, except for my eyes and I had lost the ability to speak or swallow. I was in the hospital for 5 months and totally dependent on others for everything for approximately a year. However, I was determined to regain my independence. I attended day neuro rehabilitation for a couple of years and completed over 5,000 hours of numerous therapies to teach my right cerebellum how to perform functions my left cerebellum previously performed.

It was a very difficult time to stay in full time therapy for years, but the hard work paid off. I returned to Texas A&M to the engineering program to complete my degree in biological and agricultural engineering. I regained significantly more function than any medical professional expected. While I’m still in a wheelchair because I can’t recover my balance, I can now live independently, and I recently passed my drivers license test so I’m starting to drive again. I’m excited for the future.

Involvement in the Niekro Foundation has been a blessing for me. I felt isolated while recovering from my brain injury and it was hard for others to understand what I was going through. Once I started participating with a group of individuals close to my age with similar challenges, I felt like I had a support group that understood the challenges that someone with a TBI faces daily. My parents also met other parents that were facing similar challenges.

My words of hope and advice to other survivors is even when the odds are against you, it’s possible!