Nicole was at work in the bakery when a man from the shop next door burst in.
“Everyone is trying to get hold of you, you need to call your sister”, he said. Nicole couldn’t prepare herself for what her sister Susan would say.
“She said that I need to get to the school, Tyson’s unwell and the paramedics are working on him”, Nicole recalls.
Nicole rushed to Tyson’s school, where the 10-year-old had collapsed in the sick bay after complaining of a headache. He was going in and out of consciousness.
“In that moment, time stood still; I just held his hand while the MICA paramedics were treating him for a suspected brain bleed.”
When they arrived at Warrnambool Base Hospital, the staff put Tyson straight into an induced coma before taking him to have an MRI scan. The MRI confirmed what Nicole feared, Tyson had a stroke and a bleed caused by abnormal blood vessels in his brain.
Tyson was airlifted to The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) and was taken straight into a seven-hour surgery.
After the surgery, Nicole recalls feeling like she could breathe for the first time.
“I was thinking, at least he’s comfortable, he can rest now.”
After five long days in an induced coma in the ICU, Tyson woke up. His first request was simple: he wanted to see his brother, Jordan.
“I was a bit apprehensive about letting Jordan see Tyson the way he was, with all the tubes and machines”, Nicole recalls, but when Tyson saw his brother coming to visit, “he started crying, and I gave him a big hug. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Once he was awake, the road to recovery was long, but Tyson made the effort.
“He ticked off small goals every day, always moving forward. Physio, OT, play-therapy, every day he fought. He’s just courageous. So resilient.”
While Tyson was still in the coma recovering, his Aunty Susan had a dream, “I’m not usually like this, but I had a dream that he walked in when I was sitting at Nicole’s kitchen table on his birthday”, and that’s exactly what happened. Tyson was home in time for his birthday, just a few short weeks following his brain bleed and stroke.
A month ago, Tyson returned to the RCH to finally have the abnormal blood vessel that caused his bleed removed, and the six-hour surgery was a success.
Tyson still lives with complications from his bleed, “His peripheral vision isn’t perfect, and different parts of his memory have been impacted. His short term is not very good, but the long term is crazy sometimes. If you ask him something about space, he’ll be able to give you a thesis on it!”
Tyson and Jordan are still the best of friends, “When Tyson had to go back for his surgery, Jordan wouldn’t sleep in their [shared] bedroom, he wanted to sleep on the couch, because it reminded him of when Tyson was in hospital the first time.”
“Everyone was so amazing,” said Nicole, “from the surgeons, doctors, nurses, everyone was amazing. It’s like they’ve all been trained by the same person because they’ve all got the same bedside manner.”
“The collaboration between Warrnambool Base Hospital, the paramedics, and to the RCH was nothing short of perfection.”