Mez’s life suddenly came crashing to a halt one day (Image: SWNS)
A young British woman who collapsed without warning and had to rebuild her life has warned people to be aware of a medical condition called AVM.
Mez Olivia was forced to relearn how to walk following a life-threatening stroke and brain haemorrhage at just 26 years old.
Mez, now 30, from Lampeter, Wales, claims she experienced no symptoms whatsoever before collapsing while working in Dubai and regaining consciousness days later in intensive care.
She was left with no sensation down the right side of her body and spent six months relearning to walk during her recovery in the UK.
The social media manager, who continues to receive radiotherapy, said: “One minute I was laughing with everyone and the next I screamed and collapsed.
“I had breakfast as normal that morning. There were no signs anything was wrong. My memory just stops.”
Colleagues rushed to her aid after she lost consciousness on November 16, 2021.
She said: “My co-worker caught my head and my manager put me in the recovery position and called an ambulance.
“It looked like I had died, so everyone was in complete shock.”
Medical staff discovered Mez had suffered a brain haemorrhage triggered by an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) – a tangle of abnormal blood vessels within the brain.
She remained in intensive care for 11 days and received emergency treatment after doctors warned her family that she would die without immediate intervention.
Due to Covid restrictions, her sister was prevented from travelling to Dubai to provide consent for surgery after testing positive.
Her father and brother were left to make the agonising decision to join her.
Mez said: “They were told it was life or death.
“If I didn’t have the operation, I would die, but I needed written consent to go through with it.”
Surgeons performed an embolization procedure, guiding instruments through an artery in her groin to seal off the abnormal blood vessels responsible for the bleeding.
A significant portion of her time in hospital remains a complete blur.
She said: “It’s two weeks of my life that I will never get back because I can’t remember it.
“I had a drain in my brain and I don’t think I realised how ill I was.
“I remember my sister telling me to be careful not to hurt my right side when I was lying down and I said, ‘I don’t have a right side.'”.
Following her stabilisation in Dubai, Mez was flown back to the UK in December 2021 as her insurance coverage was running out.
She spent Christmas Day alone in hospital isolation before being transferred from Heathrow directly to Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen, where her rehabilitation commenced.
Mez said: “My dad had to pay for a taxi from Heathrow, London where I landed, all the way to west Wales.
“Everyday was the same. I had hydrotherapy, physiotherapy and had to learn how to walk again.”
Placed on a stroke ward alongside elderly patients, Mez described the experience as a profound eye-opener.
She said: “I didn’t realise how serious strokes were because I’d always associated them with older people.
“They gave me a side room, but sometimes I’d have to come out because someone had died.
“It really showed me how devastating strokes can be.”
When Mez was discharged from hospital, she was told she might never walk unaided again and was advised to rely on a wheelchair.
Resolute in her determination to prove the doctors wrong, she threw herself wholeheartedly into rehabilitation.
She said: “I asked my consultant if I was ever going to be better than I was then, sitting in a wheelchair.
“I told her I’d do anything.
“She said I could prove people wrong, and I thought, ‘I’m going to do this for myself.'”
Mez in happier times (Image: SWNS)
Working alongside a personal trainer, Mez steadily rebuilt both her strength and her confidence.
By February 2023, roughly 19 months after her collapse, she was walking without a stick.
She said: “I was told I might not be able to do it, but I did.”
Yet her recovery remains an ongoing journey.
As the AVM is situated deep within her brain, surgeons were unable to remove it. Instead, she underwent radiotherapy in April 2023, a treatment that can take several years to take full effect.
However, the treatment has brought its own difficulties.
She has since lost vision on her right side and has suffered from brain swelling, necessitating steroid treatment.
She said: “The scariest thing is that something that’s supposed to make you better can also take things away from you.”
Now three years on from her collapse, she continues her five-year course of radiotherapy.
Despite these setbacks, she remains steadfastly determined to press forward and has even returned to Dubai — something she once feared might never be possible. She said: “I’ve managed to go back and do things I never thought I’d be able to do again.
“It has taught me some serious lessons in life. I’ve persevered through everything and I’m still going strong.”
The NHS says common locations for AVMs are in the brain, neck, and spine. Yet they can also be found elsewhere – including in the kidneys, intestines, and lungs. The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust website says: “They can show rapid growth over a relatively short period of time during childhood or adulthood. However, at certain times, when the body’s hormone levels increase, such as in puberty and pregnancy, they can grow more quickly. Growth of an AVM can also be as a result of clotting, infection and trauma.”
