Taleese Penna shares her miracle recovery from brain injury

A mother-of-three who was given a 10 per cent chance of surviving after falling headfirst down 20 stairs and suffering a traumatic brain injury has become a living, breathing Christmas miracle.

Taleese Penna after falling down the stairs at a friend's home and suffering a traumatic head injury.

Taleese Penna’s husband Shane sat by his wife’s hospital bed for weeks as she fought for life, playing the same song: We Deserve to Dream by Xavier Rudd.

The mother-of-three had fallen down a flight of stairs at a friend’s home in Brisbane on October 1, after watching the 2023 rugby league grand final.

The Caboolture woman, who previously lived in Hervey Bay, has no recollection of the fall, but it left her with a traumatic brain injury and a 10 per cent chance of surviving.

One of her young sons saw it happen and has had to deal with his own trauma of that image.

Taleese owes her life to the rapid response of the ambulance crew, who were on the scene within six minutes of the accident - six minutes during which she stopped breathing.

Her friend’s partner screamed at her to breathe, and she says some part of her somehow heard him.

Taleese Penna enjoys her first lunch outside hospital after suffering a traumatic head injury.

That was more than 10 weeks ago.

Since then, Taleese has undergone multiple operations and had part of her skull removed to relieve the swelling on her brain.

At one point, her family sat down with doctors who told them to prepare for the worst.

She was in a coma for three days and then contracted meningitis, adding to the almighty battle she already faced.

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Today, after weeks in the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Taleese is in a rehabilitation unit.

She has made a miraculous recovery, defying expectations that she would be in hospital for many more months, even up to a year.

On Friday, December 15, she hopes to go home.

Taleese is still facing more surgery, including having the part of her skull that was removed returned now that the swelling has gone down.

Annie Heathwood with her daughter Taleese Penna.

But given the trauma she has survived, going home in time to spend Christmas with her family, is nothing short of a miracle.

“The trauma was pretty bad,” she said.

According to experts, Taleese was told that 90 per cent of people do not survive the type of brain injury she suffered, let alone come out of it as well as she has.

Taleese Penna enjoying her first lunch outside hospital after suffering a traumatic head injury.

Taleese has no recollection of how she fell down the stairs - she believes she was either going to use the bathroom or checking on her young children, Flynn, Kora and Azaylah, - but she landed on her head on the tiles at the bottom of 20 steps.

When her husband called her family in Hervey Bay at midnight that night, her mother jumped in the car and drove through the night to be with her.

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Meanwhile Shane, a fly in fly out worker, kept a vigil by her side that continued through four surgeries and all kinds of setbacks, with Taleese going into renal failure at one point as her body struggled to cope with her brain injury.

Lumbar punctures, blood transfusions and blood thinners were also part of Taleese’s treatment.

Family friend Alanna Sherratt started a GoFundMe campaign to help raise funds to support the Penna family with the costs of Taleese’s long rehabilitation, groceries and other school fees and bills, while Mr Penna is out of work to care for his wife and children.

So far it has raised more than $12,000 for the family.

Taleese Penna after falling down the stairs at a friend's home and suffering a traumatic head injury.

After the first surgery, her family was taken into a room where a doctor told them the shattering news in the gentlest way he could:

“I don’t think we are going to be able to keep her,” Taleese said.

When she made it through a couple of surgeries, the doctors admitted: “We don’t know how she’s doing this, she’s amazing.”

Taleese went into a three-day coma after one of the surgeries and her husband sat with her in ICU, trying to prepare the family to say goodbye.

But Taleese did wake up and now, having undergone physio, speech therapy and other rehabilitation, she’s almost ready to go home.

Taleese Penna with her husband Shane after surviving a traumatic brain injury.

But even she admits she doesn’t know how she survived or came through the injury relatively unscathed.

“I can’t imagine leaving my kids,” she said.

“Or leaving my husband by himself.

“He held my hand every day and played the same song - We Deserve to Dream by Xavier Rudd.”

Taleese turned 38 while on the neurological ward but had little memory of the day due to the medication she was taking.

She knows she will have some scars and trauma for the rest of her life, but she is thankful to have survived, with the help of the healthcare professionals who were by her side every step of the way, six minutes after she fell down those stairs.

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Having been in a rehabilitation unit in the wake of the fall and seen others with terrible head injuries, she urges people to remember to wear a helmet when riding a bike or scooter.

While that could not have saved her, given it was a freak accident, too many head injuries were caused by not wearing a helmet, she said.

“You just don’t realise how easily it can happen,” she said.

“I’m extremely grateful for all the doctors and nurses and Qld ambulance paramedics.

“Without them, I don’t think I would have survived (the fall at) the house.”