Medical Miracles ~ One step at a time

Brigitte Zoghby (53) always considered herself fit and healthy. “I’ve always been active, I played sport and competed in sporting events my whole life,” she says. Just two months after participating in the Midmar Mile, an open-water swimming event in KZN, when she was 37, Brigitte suffered a stroke. At the time she owned and ran a playschool in Johannesburg.

“While I was eating lunch at a friend’s house, I gave a small cough and the next moment I had an awful headache. I felt extremely tired all of a sudden and battled to talk coherently,” she says. I knew about strokes, of course, but I didn’t recognise the signs.

Three days later, when her headache persisted and she still battled with her speech, Brigitte called her GP and the following day she was admitted to hospital.

“After a CAT scan the neurologist informed me that I had had a stroke. He showed me the damage to the right temporal lobe.” The temporal lobes are involved in the organisation of sensory input; people who have lesions in these areas of the brain, like Brigitte, have difficulty putting words and pictures into categories; and can experience personality changes.

“I stayed in hospital for a few more tests. One was an angiogram. Doctors told me my stroke was caused by a hole in the heart. A clot passed through the hole and lodged in my brain causing the stroke. I was given two options – either to have open-heart surgery to repair the hole, or to manage my condition with the blood-thinner Warfarin instead. I chose the medication.”

Although she struggled to find the right words to express herself, and this affected her confidence, Brigitte didn’t seem to experience any other serious or lasting consequences from the stroke.

Until eight months later, that is. “I was on an exercise bike at the gym when I had a massive seizure. I lost consciousness and don’t remember anything; I woke up in hospital cut and bruised from crashing into the gym machines around me.” Brigitte was diagnosed with epilepsy brought on by the stroke.

In 2004 Brigitte had a stent placed in her heart to seal the hole. Five days after the heart op, Brigitte was back in the gym swimming. She no longer takes any medication and now, almost ten years later, she has returned to full health. “I continue to keep my mind and my body fit and healthy,” she says.

And, Brigitte is walking the talk: she recently returned from walking the perimeter of Portugal with a friend. They covered 1 900 kilometres in 60 days.

“I wanted to do this walk to demonstrate to other people who have experienced stroke that they should never lose faith in themselves. I don’t know what lies ahead for me, but I plan to live each day to the full, taking one step at a time.”