Natalie Fisher took a nap to ease a headache but woke up six weeks later facing a life-threatening brain emergency.
A mum who went for a lie down with a “banging” headache woke up six weeks later, in hospital after lifesaving brain surgery.
Natalie Fisher, from Reddish, asked her eldest son to keep an eye on his little brother, who is autistic and non-verbal, before heading upstairs for a rest on December 2 last year.
But when she failed to wake, her 19-year-old son went to check and found her lying motionless. He dialled 999 and the mum-of-four was rushed to hospital by ambulance, reports Manchester Evening News.
Doctors later confirmed Natalie had suffered a brain aneurysm, when an artery bursts and bleeds into the brain, causing a haemorrhagic stroke.
She was left in a coma but said she could hear everything going on around her. She was later transferred to Salford Royal Hospital where surgeons performed open brain surgery that ultimately saved her life.
Natalie recalled: “I went to bed because I had this banging headache,”
“All the children went to school but my youngest wasn’t in, and my eldest son who is 19, was in bed because he hadn’t been picked up for work on that morning of all mornings.
“I went upstairs and asked him to go and watch my youngest, who is severely autistic and non-verbal. He went down to look after him while I went for a lie down. I don’t suffer with headaches often so it was very weird for me.
“I remember my head just popped and I fell back onto the bed. He came upstairs later and found me lying there and phoned the ambulance.”
Natalie was taken to Stepping Hill Hospital where she remained in a coma for weeks.
She claims she remembers hearing conversations in the room while her loved ones thought she was unresponsive.
Coma patients’ brains process sounds and respond to familiar voices, even if showing no clear signs of awareness. It is a state of unconsciousness where a person is unresponsive and cannot be woken.
Some people feel they can remember events that happened around them while they were in a coma. Others have no memory of events, according to the NHS.
Natalie explained: “I remember my mum asking me to squeeze her hand. I remember seeing my family sitting there even though my eyes were closed. All around me.
(Image: Natalie Fisher)
“I remember the nurses saying they may need to turn off my life support machine and me just wanting to scream. I was trying to move and nothing was. I couldn’t talk or move yet I was still alive, it was surreal.
“My family were being told I was struggling to be alive on my own but I still heard everyone coming to see me, chatting among themselves and crying and I was just lying there. I couldn’t move, speak or even say I love you.”
Natalie also claims she vividly remembers being ‘thrown up some stairs’ and later ‘landing in a bed’ after first falling unconscious.
Natalie also described vivid visions – including seeing her late gran who passed away four years ago.
“She told me ‘go back to your mother’ moments before I opened my eyes. I used to think people were weird when they said stuff like that – but I’ve experienced it myself.”
Neurosurgeons at Salford Royal managed to save Natalie by sealing off the aneurysm with a metal clip.
The mum-of-four was transferred for the delicate operation, where surgeons clamped the burst artery shut to stop the bleeding. The tiny clip will remain in place for life.
(Image: Natalie Fisher)
Against the odds, Natalie finally opened her eyes on January 14, six weeks after collapsing.
She is still under the care of specialists and is due back for a brain scan to check on her progress. But she has been left with problems with her throat and voice box after weeks on a ventilator.
“Once my eyes closed in my house, I didn’t open them for six weeks,” Natalie added. “My children are my world, I can’t live a day without them, and my son needs me, yet in that moment all I could think about was my mum.
“I wasn’t pulling through and then six weeks later I’m there again with all my family. It was unbelievable.
“I am mending myself by taking it easy and doing what my body is capable of doing. It’s small strides day by day, step by step, and slowly but surely I am getting there.
“It’s terrifying to go to bed for a lie down and not wake up for so long – but at least I am still here.”
