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Shelly Gill collapsed without warning in the driver’s seat. Her devastated family was told she would die or suffer severe brain damage but she has fought a courageous battle
A mum who collapsed at the wheel woke up three weeks later in hospital having missed Christmas.
Shelly Gill, 49, had just strapped her young son, Theo, into his car seat when she collapsed without warning in the driver’s seat. The mum of three suffered a subarachnoid haemorrhage and was in a coma throughout the Christmas period. Her devastated family was told she would die or suffer severe brain damage.
But incredibly Shelly, who could not walk or talk after her illness, has battled back to full health. She now runs support groups for others affected by stroke and aneurysm. She says: “I love Christmas and usually, I do all my preparations 12 days before. But for some reason, before I collapsed, I did it all early.
“Two days before my stroke, I wrapped Theo’s gifts, I put my tree up and I decorated my house. It’s almost as if my body knew what was coming. After my collapse, I didn’t even recognise my own family. I didn’t know it was Christmas. My memory was poor for weeks afterwards and my ex had to move in with us so I could look after Theo safely.
“Luckily now I am back at work, and pretty much back to normal. I’ve been told only one per cent of patients are as lucky as me.” Shelly was a perfectly fit and healthy mum before she collapsed in December 2022. She says: “I was planning for a big family Christmas, and Theo was excited because I’d put the tree up unusually early. All his gifts were wrapped and ready in the spare room.
“On December 6, Theo had a routine appointment at our local hospital and afterwards I strapped him into his car seat and started reversing out of the parking space. After that, I just don’t remember a thing.”
Shelly was unconscious and frothing at the mouth when another driver spotted her and called for help. She was resuscitated in ICU but doctors found four aneurysms in her brain, two of which had ruptured and required emergency surgery. Afterwards, she was placed into an induced coma.
Her shell-shocked sons, Arron, 32, Kieran, 30, kept a vigil at her bedside over Christmas. She says: “The doctors tried to wake me four times and it wasn’t successful. They told my family that the fifth time would have to be the last.
When she finally regained consciousness, on December 29, she did not recognise any of her family, including her sons. She could not walk or talk, and doctors warned she could be severely brain damaged. Shelly says: “Over New Year, I was awake, but vacant. I started to recognise people but had no idea why I was in hospital. My first real memory is on January 4 when Arron brought me a McDonald’s!”
Despite doctors’ predictions, Shelly recovered well, and her speech returned within a week. She began a seven-week course of physiotherapy but by the end of January was well enough to be allowed home for the weekend to see Theo, aged five. She says: “We held a late Christmas that weekend. Theo had been with his dad and then his brothers over Christmas, and they’d given him some gifts, but there were others waiting at home.
“It was such an emotional moment to walk into my own house, and to celebrate with my sons. Theo was over the moon, he had been so worried about me, he didn’t stop cuddling me.” Shelly was insistent she would recover more quickly at home and soon after was discharged from hospital, though still faced complex cognitive issues.
She says: “My memory was coming back slowly but I would question if I had turned off the cooker or if I had locked the door. They were tiny things but were huge for me. My therapist also helped me grasp the severity of what happened. Only one per cent of people come out the other side Ok from what I went through.
“I wasn’t well enough to look after Theo on my own, so my ex had to move back in temporarily to keep an eye on me!” She had two further surgeries, in June and September last year, to assess the remaining aneurysms and her health is now stable.
Shelly, a drug and alcohol recovery tutor, has now returned to work part-time and she runs a support group, offering talks and advice, to help others affected by stroke and aneurysm. She also produces podcasts. Earlier this year, she and Theo enjoyed their first holiday since her illness, a trip to Majorca, which went without any issues.
Shelly has received support from Brain Aneurysm Awareness UK. She says: “Missing one Christmas has just made me all the more determined to celebrate in style this year. My health and my family are the biggest and best gifts of all.”
