That headache soon, during the night that evening that I came home, turned into as if someone had plunged a sledgehammer through my head. So I woke up screaming and it was like the quickness of the ambulance coming because my daughter, my husband had called the ambulance. And it was that quickness that actually saved my life.

You know, I had, did go into hospital and I had approximately two months of four different surgeries, four brain surgeries. And on top of that, I got a shunt put inside and yeah, I came out and had to really re-learn so many basic things that we all take for granted, like walking, tuning into sounds again. I had some vision impairment in the beginning, but slowly, slowly it got better and I had a huge physical and mental shift. And yeah, I got left with a lot of other side effects, which, you know, have to live with on a daily basis now.

The main rehabilitation was after I came out. And I didn't really get much given to me to say that you're going to feel have all these feelings and you're going to really be so confused all the time and you're going to not be able to drive because of the noises. And, you know, there's so many things that you're just not prepared for, which is like a bit of a shame because they were so good in what they did.

And yeah, a lot of that rehabilitation sort of happened afterwards. And I would definitely say my recovery for me to even start feeling normal was seven years. And that is when I started feeling normal. But for sure, I probably looked OK from the outside and people would just think that I was fine and 100% OK. But yeah, underneath there was all of that.

But what I try and do is have those mini breaks during the day. And I also like I do try and sleep for an hour or two during the day so that I can then be with my family for the evening.

And it's it is very different, but I'm here. I'm alive. I'm with my family. And it could have been so much more worse. So I'm very optimistic. I'm very positive. It's just my personality.

So I'm just always looking at, OK, yeah, I might be a bit tired every now and again and might get exhausted and, you know, that reduced concentration. But, you know, I can be having an evening meal with my family and that's OK. So I just, really, just sort of thank, I'm so thankful and so grateful every single day. And I try and manage whatever I can.

Obviously, if it gets too much, I do have to have that little reminder to say, right, you've got to take it easy. My neuropsychologist yesterday subscribed me a prescription to say, have a day on me every Wednesday, which is today, I think, have a day to do nothing or do something that you enjoy and just not the work thing.

And so like I have to, like, really, really look after myself, otherwise I cannot function. And just another thing with daily tasks as well is I literally have to write everything down. So even if you're asking me a question, I like have to write it down to actually understand it in my brain. I know that some people have to do that anyway, but yeah, I have to literally write everything down. If I don't write it down, I've forgotten about it. It's gone!

So I started then to document by video because sometimes by writing stuff down about my own recovery. But then as I was documenting my video, I was putting them out on YouTube as well. So a few charities reached out to me when they saw my videos. And that's really how I got involved with charities.

And I don't remember exactly how I got involved with the PPI element, but I think it was me seeing some sort of advertisement through the hospital that got me involved with it. And it's been rewarding to actually see how, what I'm doing does actually help and has had any effect on other people. And it's also been healing for me to be able to do that. And I think that's like one of the most important things, because it's made me grow as well as an individual.

When I put out posts or if I put out a blog or if I'm, you know, even with my books, when I'm putting this information out, I get messages on a daily basis by complete strangers, but people, either patients, families, carers, relatives and friends of people that know someone who has had some type of brain injury or stroke even. And they comment and tell me how amazing it is that they can see what I'm putting out.

And I don't just put out, “Oh, I'm feeling very upset today” or whatever. I put out information about exactly how I'm feeling. But then I also put out what helps me to get over that situation. So it's not just, because, you know, there’s a lot of stuff on the internet and on social media, and you don't just want to like, I don't just want to put a post out for putting it out sakes. I want to put something out that is actually going to help someone. So I'll always put three tips or something that's helped me so that people are getting something out of it. Like absolutely for sure.

So, Kavita, I know you do some work with the Brain and Spine Foundation. It's good to give a nod out to groups like this. How, what do they actually do? Do they run sort of support networks for people with injuries? Do they support research? What does the foundation actually really do?

Plus, they don't just support something like me, which is a brain haemorrhage survivor. They support other areas like dementia, like I'm going to have to like think of things because I do have like short term memory. So if you think of all the neuro conditions that are out there, is it something like over 180 different neuro conditions?

And then another person that's in the Brain and Spine Foundation does a running club. So they do like lots of different things. But their main, I would say their main attribute is definitely their support network and their helpline.

They have these leaflets that they have done to support all the different conditions that they, that they know of. And they've put these leaflets together that gives you some real insight into that condition. And if someone doesn't know anything about a brain hemorrhage or doesn't know anything about cerebral palsy or other conditions, then you can get this leaflet and it will tell you. It'll just give you like a snapshot of what kind of, what you're dealing with, basically.

And then I literally sent it out. I called it Room 23, Surviving a Brain Hemorrhage. And I literally just sent it out to five publishers and I got a rejection from the first one. I got a rejection from the second one. And then my daughter said, Oh, JK Rowling had so many rejections. And then she got the deal. I'm really not in that league at all.

And then the third one, I was actually staying somewhere in the Cotswolds. Me and my husband were staying for a weekend with some friends and they gave me a key and it was on a wooden block. And it said Room 23 on that wooden block. And it was so bizarre because I'd already named my book and everything.

And that evening I got a call from She Writes Press in California and they said, we really love what you've done here. We really want to support you and we want to publish your book for you. So I got a publisher from the US that put that out.

And Room 23 has been something of a diary, but also a toolkit, I call it. If you want to have a toolkit to help you through a neurological illness that you've had, or if you're a family or a friend or carer or anyone, then this is a real toolkit because at the back of the book, I've actually put so many references to different areas of support that you can get. And it's not just like UK, it's also USA as well. So I've put like lots of different, so it's like, it's a real good, it's a real good tool book for people.