By Abbey Cannan
After suffering a stroke a month before his wedding, a Cooroy father has learnt to walk again just in time for the first dance with the love of his life.
Kerese Amato-Ali spent his 30th birthday in hospital, and woke up with no memory of the unexpected brain bleed that left him in a coma for the days following Tuesday 15 March.
By his side the whole time was his bride-to-be Jessica Bell, who now laughs about practising their first dance in the rehabilitation unit at Sunshine Coast University Hospital.
“The physical therapists worked on the first dance with us, so all of the other patients in the rehabilitation unit had to put up with our first dance song playing on repeat,“ Jessica said.
In an unbelievable recovery, Kerese was out of his wheelchair and dancing into an emotional room full of his family and friends when he married Jessica on 29 April.
Guests would never have guessed it just a month prior when she found Kerese in bed with his eyes shaking, arm and leg flailing, as he began to lose all function.
“It was probably the longest 15 minutes of my life waiting for the ambulance,“ Jessica said.
“My best friend is a paramedic so I called her while we waited. She told me to lay him on his side, and when I did that he was vomiting and urinating everywhere.
“She kept saying to me to keep talking to him and so I would say, ’Kerese, can you see me? Can you talk to me?’ and he would open his eyes and make noise but he couldn’t actually speak.“
The paramedics met the LifeFlight helicopter at Eumundi where they flew him to Brisbane in an induced coma and breathing tube.
“Because of the Covid rules, I wasn’t allowed in the ambulance. I don’t even remember the helicopter landing. It never crossed my mind that I might not ever talk to him again,“ Jessica said.
She realised the severity of the situation when she saw the look on his dad’s face at the hospital, and when the doctor’s slowly brought Kerese out of the coma.
“I remember them asking him, ’So who are these two people?’ and it was me and his step mum, and he said that I was his sister and that she was his other sister as well,“ Jessica said.
“It was really heartbreaking.“
His memory slowly improved each day, and Kerese would utter the words ’I love you’ to Jessica through breathing tubes.
“It just got to a point where I woke up and looked at Jess and knew that it was her. I don’t know what it was or when it was but it just clicked. It felt good to start remembering things,“ Kerese said.
“In my head I thought I would reach the wedding date, but there were a lot of negative thoughts that went through my head. I just tried to stay positive because if you’re negative it could turn bad quite quickly.“
Jessica helped shower and feed Kerese every morning and night, as the right side of his body had no movement.
“We had to leave during certain hours and I remember I walked back into the hospital at dinner time, and everyone else in the ward was feeding themselves with a knife and fork, while Kerese was eating his mashed potato and peas with his fingers because he couldn’t pick up the cutlery,“ Jess said.
The doctor couldn’t work out what caused the stroke, questioning the pre-workout brand Kerese would take before a gym session. Eventually, they said Kerese was just unlucky.
“But it does come down to high blood pressure,“ Jessica said.
“So just get your blood pressure checked and don’t overwork yourself.“
Reaching the wedding day was a dream come true for the both of them.
“Words cannot express how grateful I am for Jess,“ Kerese said while holding back tears.
“I got the feeling that I surprised everyone at the wedding.“
Jessica added, “People who have strokes, you don’t usually see them make the recovery that Kerese has.“
“There’s still a lot of work to do, but we’re getting there.“
Kerese completed his intense rehab, and together the married couple now continue to make progress at Nambour Hospital’s community rehab.
As both Kerese and Jessica have been unable to work, a family friend set up a fundraiser to help them cover costs of the recovery.
“I can’t believe the amount of people that have been so generous,“ Jessica said.
“Kerese would burst into tears when I showed him in the hospital. Even $20 is so much money to give to people that you don’t know.“
Kerese said his new goal was to get back to work and return to his normal life.
“I just want to say thank you to everyone that has shown their support,“ Kerese said.
To donate to the GoFundMe, visit gofund.me/56e70843
For more information on stroke signs and prevention visit strokefoundation.org.au
