Active Redlands mother Natalie Watson suffers cruel brain injury blow

A Redlands mother and former marathon runner was packing for a holiday to Bali when she suddenly collapsed to the floor. When she came to five days later, her life would be changed forever.

Natalie Watson with her son Wyatt, who is now 10. Picture: Contributed

An Ormiston mother, marathon runner and overall a burst of energy now spends her days lying on the lounge or sitting in a wheelchair with thunderclap headaches after a devastating fall caused by a ruptured brain aneurysm — an injury many don’t survive.

In late November 2023, Natalie Watson was preparing for a family holiday to Bali the next day with her partner Justin and his two children, when she fell hard to the ground unexpectedly, with a crushing pain in her head.

The fall was caused by a brain bleed and from the ruptured aneurysm, resulting in emergency brain surgery and Natalie going into a coma for five day.

Justin, along with Natalie’s ex-husband Dan Watson and their 10-year-old son Wyatt waited helplessly.

Since Natalie was discharged, her condition has gone backwards, grappling with frequent thunderclap headaches, muscle weakness requiring a wheelchair, extreme fatigue, short term memory loss and difficulty concentrating, reading or writing.

Natalie Watson with her son Wyatt, who is now 10. Picture: Contributed

Mr Watson said Natalie has been dealt a bad hand at life, after being diagnosed with the auto-immune disease Myathenia Gravis followed shortly by the death of their second son Myles in 2016, when he was 11 months old.

This sadly led to their marriage breakdown, and was followed by the death of Mr Watson and Natalie’s respective fathers in successive years.

“Even though we’d been divorced for quite a time it was very stressful,” Mr Watson said.

“For me she’s still the mother of my kids.

“It’s a high fatality rate for that injury, I didn’t think she’d survive.

“I was scared of my 10-year-old son losing his mum.

“She was in a coma for so long I thought she would be severely disabled.

“When she woke up and she could talk it was amazing.

“She spends nearly all her time lying down on the bed and the couch.

“The thunderclap headaches, each time she has one she gets scared it’s another aneurysm and she’s about to die.”

Since Natalie was discharged, her condition has gone backwards, grappling with full-time thunderclap headaches and muscle weakness among other conditions. Picture: Contributed

Natalie’s aneurysm has been hard for her son Wyatt to see his normally energetic and active mother now bedridden with extreme fatigue.

Her mother has travelled over from England on a tourist Visa to support her for a limited time.

“He (Wyatt) burst into tears when he first saw her in hospital when she was back on the ward,” Mr Watson said.

“He’s strong willed and gets on with it.

“We smother him with love and tell him mum’s going to be okay.

“He sees her laying down all day and it wears him down.”

Having Myasthenia Gravis means Natalie has to have her blood plasma exchanged fortnightly and she will be back at the Princess Alexandra Hospital next week for a progress appointment, to explore any hope of a recovery from the aneurysm.

Natalie Watson with her ex-husband Dan Watson and their son Wyatt. Picture: Contributed

“She was a very active and energetic person before she got sick,” Mr Watson said.

“She would run marathons, very fit and active.

“Full of energy she wouldn’t stop, so this is really hard for her because she can’t do those things anymore.”

Natalie had worked in office administration for many years before the aneurysm.

In 2021 Natalie had a small aneurysm that was picked up by scans but she was discharged.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help cover Natalie’s bills, school fees and loss of income for a couple of months until her income protection insurance kicks in.

Mr Watson set the target at $10,000 which has been smashed in three days, however he said the income protection is only a percentage of what Natalie would normally earn, so a bigger financial safety net was still needed.

“It’s been overwhelming and emotional seeing that level of generosity,” Mr Watson said.

“It has blown me away and showed me what good friends we have.

“Now she’s not working, she has no savings and she has no money to survive.”