" When I was a kid I was told you get what you deserve, but over the past few years I have found this not to be true. Everybody has their own path and faces their own difficulties, my greatest obstacle started in March 2012 when I fell for the first time. I was at a friend's house when I lost all the feeling in my right arm and passed out. A couple of days later I woke up in the hospital where my surgeon told me that I had had a brain haemorrhage. He then told me that the blood vessels in my brain were so complicated that he couldn't cut them out and the vessels could burst again at any time, which would either give me a permanent disability or kill me. I was discharged from the hospital and spent the next four months panicking that for the remainder of my life, I would live in fear of it happening again. Eventually, a specialised institute contacted me and offered me gamma knife radiation surgery which is a lot less invasive. I had my first round of treatment in 2012, and my most recent angiogram tells me that most of the vessel malformation has gone, which is a huge relief. Hopefully, in two years all of it will be gone, but in the meantime, the knowledge that it's not entirely healed will be at the forefront of my mind. I feel like I have the Sword of Damocles over my head. It took me six years overall, but I managed to finish my degree in clinical psychology and get the job I have now. It's an old saying, but "you really don't appreciate your health until it goes". I am very greatful for the love and support my family and friends have given me throughtout this period of my life. I could not have kept it together without them.
