My Niece Nichole

On July 12,2009 Nichole was home alone. She had a "migrane". The headache was getting worse it was affecting her vision, then she couldnt see. Nichole found her cell phone she pressed the last call and reached a friend of my sister's. Kenny rushed over to Nichole's house and rushed her to the hospital where she was screaming at him to drive faster, He was already driving fast. When they reached the hospital they did testing and discovered the AVM. They flew her to Maine Medical in Portland. During her flight she went brain dead for 20 minutes. At Maine Medical they stablized her and medically induced her coma. The doctor that saw her first told us that when he saw her first she was brain dead and he really didnt have any hope that she would survive. I dont remember how long it was that they did a three step surgery. Most of Nichole's family is from Rhode Island and when we got the news we drove up to Maine. I arrived there at 3 am. The doctor came in to talk to the family about the surgery and he was not giving us much hope. My sister Joyce had to sign papers for them to do the surgery. Nichole made it through the surgery which was very amazing.. Nichole stayed in a coma for almost 6 weeks she had complications during this time. My sister Joyce stayed by her side the whole time, she stayed in a house that was called "Ryan's House" which was designed for family's to stay when loved ones was in critical condition. My sister taped Nichole's children's voices to play for Nichole while she was still in a coma. Nichole had most of her memory when she woke up. Nichole dont remember the incident that happened on July 12th. Nichole amazed doctors and nurses at the hospital, they didnt think she was going to survive but she did. Nichole is currently residing at River Ridge rehab in Kennebunk. She has been there for about a year now. Nichole is in a wheelchair. They told her that she wont ever walk. Nichole cries everyday she wants her life back. She wants to go home to be a mother to her kids. Nichole had headaches all her life, the doctors told her that she had migranes they never did any testing to rule out anything serious in her brain. This all could of been prevented if they had. Nichole is our miracle, our angel. We love her the way she is. It is so sad to see her crying. At times she says she wishes she was dead. Please pray for Nichole!

Hello, Dianne. I think everyone will agree that each person’s recovery is just so different after a bleed, but there have been some amazing stories of inspiration on here so never give up hope.
I watched this movie called Life. Support. Music., which is the story of a man who has an AVM bleed and then his recovery afterwards. Someone filmed his whole experience and recovery. It is absolutely amazing to watch,- difficult, but amazing and I think your niece might find it inspirational to see how hard the man works at his recovery. I cryed thru the whole movie but I just could not stop watching it. Seeing him in the beginning, I would never have thought he would recover the way he did. I don’t know if it is still available to watch online anywhere but you can order the movie on that website.
Also the book, My Stroke of Insight, is about a brain doctor who has an AVM bleed and others on here have said it is helpful too.
I do think a full recovery takes upwards of 5 years from all the reading I have done. I feel so badly for your niece. I hope she doesn’t give up the fight and having loving family around her is probably the only thing that will keep her going.
My thoughts are with you. I hope you are comforted by the inspiring stories of others on here.

Thank you. I will look into finding the video. I will try to purchase it and reveiw it for my niece. Can you write my niece a letter of encouragement and mail it to me so I can give it to her. Maybe this will give her hope knowing that she isnt alone. If you decide to do so My name Is Dianne Palmer c/o Nichole Kelvey 9 Astral Street Warwick RI 02888

I’m going to pray that Nicole feels better emotionally.

You almost have the same exact name that my sister had, she passed in 2000, not from an avm.
Her name was Diane Palmer

Peace and Blessings,
Ameenah