Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Six-Year-Old Girl Saves Her Mother's Life After Realizing Her Mom Was Having A Stroke On An Airplane

Six-Year-Old Girl Saves Her Mother's Life After Realizing Her Mom Was Having A Stroke On An Airplane
SWNS

A six-year-old girl saved her mother's life after she spotted she was having a stroke on a plane—caused by the take off.


Alexandra Hajipaulis, 39, was on a Ryanair flight to Crete with her daughter Jaideen when she suffered an ischemic stroke.

Lorna Hajipaulis / SWNS

It is thought to have been caused by a bubble of air in a vein which travelled up to her brain when the air pressure changed during the plane's ascent.

Brave Jaideen noticed her mum was unconscious and alerted an air hostess.

Thankfully, a doctor sitting behind Alex recognized her symptoms as a stroke and ordered staff to land the plane, where she was then rushed to hospital in a coma.

Alex, from Wolverhampton, is now paralyzed completely in both legs and her left arm - but is grateful that her little girl's swift actions saved her life.

Her mother Lorna Hajipaulis, 66, has moved back to the UK from Crete to care for her daughter and two grandchildren full time.

Alex said:

"Jaideen saved my life - she knew something was wrong, she got me help even though she was only six years old at the time, I'm so proud of her."

Before her stroke, museum worker Alex was a happy and healthy mother of two living in Wolverhampton.

On 17 July 2018, she boarded a plane to visit her mother Lorna at her home in Crete, Greece, taking her Jaideen with her.

Halfway into the flight, Alex collapsed in her seat - leaving her six year old daughter to alert an air hostess to her unconscious mother.

The flight made an emergency stop in Italy where Alex was rushed to hospital immediately from the airport in a coma.

She underwent hemicraniectomy surgery the next day where a large flap of the skull is removed and the dura is opened to give space for the swollen brain to bulge, reducing the intracranial pressure.

The young mum was then in a coma for 10 days while Lorna traveled to Italy.

Lorna said:

"I heard from Alex that she'd boarded the plane and then just a few hours later, someone rang me from the hospital to say she'd had a stroke."
"I couldn't believe what I was hearing, but before I knew it, I was on the next flight to Italy and racing to the hospital."
"We didn't know if she'd pull through, and everybody was speaking Italian and telling us it was going to cost thousands to save Alex."
"I had to reach out to relatives and even set up a GoFundMe page to raise the £25,000 needed to get Alex home to the UK."
"Alex didn't have the right kind of insurance that would cover what happened to her, and so we had to suddenly raise all this money to get her home safe."

Alex's stroke is thought to have been caused by an air embolism secondary to a bronchogenic cyst.

This is where a previously undetected lung cyst ruptures inside the body due to air pressure rapidly changing, such as in a plane or a submarine.

The rupture of the cyst causes an air embolism to travel to the brain and leads to sufferers experiencing either a stroke or a coma.

Alex spent a month in the hospital in Italy before she was repatriated to ITU at Queen Elizabeth Hospital on 13 August 2018.

Due to the nature of her stroke, Alex's flight home had to be at a lower level than normal to reduce the chances of her having another stroke.

She stayed at the hospital for six weeks before she was moved to a rehab centre in Wolverhampton in October 2018.

Lorna Hajipaulis / SWNS


Lorna then moved Alex home for nine months before she was offered a place at a care home in September this year, where she remains.

Alex said:

"The stroke has completely changed my life—it's ruined my life."
"I can't walk any more, I'm stuck in bed, I can't work, I miss being a mum to my girls."
"Before this happened to me, I was having two showers a day, but I haven't even had one since my stroke and that was 17 months ago."
"I was completely unconscious on the plane and then for the whole time I was in Italy so I can't remember what happened."
"I didn't even speak until six weeks after my stroke, I was completely out of it."

Lorna added: 

"Alex has been left feeling disabled and suicidal following her stroke and the care she has received."
"It's been 17 months since Alex had her stroke and she's deteriorating both physically and mentally rather than being on the road to recovery."
"The care homes that she has stayed at haven't had the facilities needed to wash someone of Alex's size properly, so she hasn't had a bath or shower in a year and a half."
"She's only getting under an hour of daily physiotherapy Monday to Friday where she's staying right now and it's just not enough to help get her back on her feet which is what she wants to do."
"I did pay for some private physiotherapy which was amazing, we couldn't afford to keep it going although I wish we could have."
"I just want someone to help my daughter, she's just been left to suffer after her stroke and I'm so angry to see her being reduced to living like this."
"Alex is a 40 year old woman with two daughters, she just wants to go home and be a mum to her children again and go back to work so she can be a contributing member of society, but she can't do that."

Lorna Hajipaulis / SWNS

"The stroke has completely changed my daughter's life and I'm angry that she has not received the help she needs which is affecting her mental health massively.
"It seems that if you're under 40 and you have a stroke, you just get stuck in a home and forgotten about—I'm sure Alex isn't the only one to have experienced this."
"We just want someone to help her. Alex doesn't like being like this, she wants to work, she still has feeling in her legs, she just needs help."
"We are convinced that with the right physiotherapy, Alex could walk again—that's all we want to happen."

*A version of this story originally appeared on SWNS and was written by Charlotte Penketh-King

More from Trending

Donald Trump; Superman (2025) poster
Joe Raedle/Getty Images; Warner Bros. Pictures

White House Blasted After Portraying Trump As Superman In Bonkers Poster Mock-up

The White House was mercilessly mocked online after it posted a revised poster for the latest Superman film that features President Donald Trump as the Man of Steel.

The latest big screen adaptation of the famed superhero comic, Superman, was directed by James Gunn and stars David Corenswet as the titular superhero, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. The film has received positive reviews and has already made an estimated $2.8 million from Tuesday previews for a total $21 million, including Thursday previews.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Charlie Kirk
Real America's Voice

MAGA Influencer Charlie Kirk Called Out After Blaming DEI For High Death Toll In Texas Flooding Disaster

Turning Point USA founder and MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk was harshly criticized after he claimed the death toll in the flash floods that have devastated central Texas "would not have been as high if it wasn't for DEI," ridiculously suggesting that principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion were responsible.

Kirk's comments are reflective of President Donald Trump’s broader push to dismantle federal programs focused on diversity and inclusion—part of what he pledged in his inaugural address would be a campaign to stop attempts to “socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.”

Keep ReadingShow less

People Reveal The Dark Secrets They Discovered About Someone After They Died

Sometimes you never know who someone is until they're gone.

Everyone has their secrets.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Jesse Watters; Hakeem Jeffries
Fox News; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Jesse Watters Pathetically Tries To Burn Hakeem Jeffries With Bizarre 'Rule For Men' Rant

Fox News personality Jesse Watters was widely mocked after he criticized House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for having recently shared a photo of himself on Instagram that appeared to be digitally altered—with the bench he was leaning against noticeably warped around his hips.

You can see Jeffries' photo below.

Keep ReadingShow less
Snoop Dogg
Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images

Snoop Dogg's Puppy Instagram Breaks Internet

Snoop Dogg introduced his fans to the newest little bow-wow in his household, a puppy named Baby Boy Broadus.

The adorable small tan French bulldog made his debut on the rapper’s Instagram account on June 28th, sporting a Louis Vuitton leash and chewing on his owner’s Death Row Jacket.

Keep ReadingShow less