‘Fit and healthy’ Texas woman, 23, left unable to speak for two YEARS due to rare brain bleed
A 23-year-old mother of a child was unable to make a sound for two years after suffering a massive brain haemorrhage at work.
Megan Guerra, now 28 and from Austin, Texas, was fit and healthy and worked as a skin care specialist at a clinic in the city.
But when she lay down for a facial in 2017, she suddenly felt an intense pain in her head before her vision went black.
Ms Guerra was rushed to hospital where doctors diagnosed her with an arteriovenous malformation, or AVM, an abnormal connection between arteries and blood vessels, which had ruptured. The AVM was probably present from birth.
The fracture had caused a massive brain hemorrhage, they said, leading to a stroke in the part of her brain responsible for controlling breathing, heart rate, swallowing, blood pressure and consciousness.
Megan Guerra, now 28 and from Austin, Texas, was in a coma for three months after a massive brain hemorrhage
The mother of one is pictured above in the hospital and during her recovery, where she gradually learned to use her limbs again
Ms Guerra said her biggest motivation was her daughter Taylor, now 10 (shown right on her birthday), who said she ‘needs me to be her mother again’
Ms Guerra was in hospital in a coma for three months, with her fiancé and family repeatedly warned she might not survive.
But after being given drugs to stimulate her central nervous system, the mother woke up.
She was completely paralyzed and had to spend 14 months in a clinic to be able to move and talk again.
Relatives said she regained strength first in her fingers and toes, then gradually in her feet, hands and limbs, and finally in her core.
Doctors also diagnosed her with vocal cord paralysis and warned she would never be able to talk or eat normally again.
However, two years after the cerebral hemorrhage, with repeated therapy, she slowly regained her ability to speak and eat.
Currently, Ms. Guerra says she can move her left side better than her right — and stand again. She can also talk, although she still has trouble with some sounds.
Her daughter Taylor, now 10 years old, has been the main motivation for her recovery, saying Taylor “I need to be her mother again.”
An arteriovenous malformation is a rare condition that affects about one in 100,000 people in the United States.
An AVM is a group of blood vessels that form incorrectly while a fetus is developing in the womb or shortly after a baby is born. This leads to abnormal or grunting tangles of blood vessels that bypass normal tissue and are prone to rupturing.
Patients can live for decades without knowing they have the formation and before they are diagnosed with AVM. Sometimes they don’t find out until they have a sudden and unexpected brain hemorrhage.
Doctors can treat the condition through surgery or embolization, a procedure in which a substance is injected into the arteries and veins in the tangle to close them off.
Ms Guerra’s case had not been discovered before and doctors said that even if it had been, surgery would not have been possible due to the location of the AVM.
She relived the day the brain hemorrhage happened and said, “I had just removed my make-up and the esthetician was going to try our new oxygen facial machine on me.
‘[But] while lying down, I got a severe headache.
‘My colleagues immediately sensed my urgency. I remember thinking at one point, “This is it. I’m going to die”.
Ms. Guerra is pictured above celebrating her birthday in Austin, Texas
She was released from rehab after 14 months when she said it was time to return home
“There was no repetition of memories like in the movies. I didn’t think about what I could have done better. I was just in blinding pain.’
Ms Guerra said her vision went black and she urged her colleague to call an ambulance quickly.
“This is where my memory begins to fail me,” she said.
She started by relearning how to move her toes and fingers before moving on to her limbs. She is shown above learning to use the piano
“I knew I couldn’t see and I was terrified and crying. I heard a man say something reassuring.
“I can only assume it was something like ‘Don’t worry, we’ve got you’ or ‘I’ll be fine.’
“I remember thinking, ‘That’s sweet… he thinks he can help me. He doesn’t know I’m about to die.'”
While she was in a coma, doctors gave her modafinil, or Provigil, every six to eight hours to stimulate and wake up her central nervous system.
She then developed a rash all over her face because she was unknowingly allergic to the medication.
It worked slowly, however, and Ms. Guerra woke up from her coma three months later.
She was subsequently discharged to acute rehab and a long-term acute care facility in Dallas, where she worked for four months to regain her strength.
She would undergo 40 hours of therapy each week before declaring it was time to come home.
In 2020, her family said in a GoFundMe she was learning how to put contacts back in, get in and out of bed safely, and stand on her own without help.
Ms. Guerra pictured herself during her recovery from the massive cerebral hemorrhage
She currently says her left side is not as stiff as her right side as she continues to recover. She can also talk again, but still needs help with some sounds
Her recovery continued at home while Ms. Guerra worked to regain her ability to speak and swallow.
Speaking of her progress, she said, “At the moment my left side still moves much more easily than my right, but I don’t think it will be for long.
‘I can talk quite a lot, I have speech therapy to help with certain sounds so I can be understood better.
“I will be one hundred percent. I said this because I could barely move.
“My daughter needs me to be her mother again. I’ve never believed anything so strong.
‘I’m still the same person and still have my memories (my brain injury didn’t affect my personality).
“I will continue my journey to 100 percent, surrounded by people who love and support me.”
Megan also offered a message for others going through similar hardships. “You can do anything and create the life you want,” she said.