Australian actress Melle Stewart suffers massive stroke caused by AstraZeneca jab

Melle Stewart, from Brisbane, is taking legal action against AstraZeneca after suffering a massive stroke caused by their Covid vaccine.

An Australian actress’ career is in tatters after she suffered a massive stroke caused by the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine.

Melle Stewart is taking legal action against the pharmaceutical company after a life-threatening stroke left her unable to work.

Ms Stewart, 42, was living in London when she had the jab in May 2021.

She was enjoying a successful career and had starred in the musical “Kiss Me Kate” in Belfast before the pandemic hit, where she received standing ovations for her performance.

Staunchly pro vaccines, Ms Stewart was keen to get her jab and even corrected a volunteer who had mistaken her for someone younger.

Melle Stewart suffered a severe stroke after having the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The British government had just recommended that people under 40 did not have the AstraZeneca jab due to its suspected link with a blood clotting disorder.

Ms Stewart, who puts her youthful good looks down to not smoking or drinking and a regimen of pilates, corrected the volunteer and had the jab.

Two weeks later she woke up with an odd sensation on the right hand side of her body.

She tried to get up but collapsed.

She was rushed to hospital where her condition quickly deteriorated. She lost all movement on the right-hand side of her body and the ability to speak.

She then started suffering terrifying seizures.

Neurosurgeons were forced to remove a large part of Ms Stewart’s skull to reduce the pressure in her brain.

After being admitted to the neurological ICU, she was formally diagnosed with Vaccine-Induced Thrombocytopenic Thrombosis (VITT).

Her life-changing stroke had been caused by two large blood clots in the main veins of her brain.

Melle Stewart and her partner Ben.

Ms Stewart spent three weeks in an induced coma and received blood transfusions to try and flush antibodies caused by the vaccine, which were causing blood clots, out of her system.

When she regained consciousness she spent three months in hospital before being moved to a specialised rehabilitation hospital in London where she would learn to walk and talk again.

Ms Stewart was discharged from hospital in February 2022.

She and her partner Ben Lewis, 43, have since moved back to Brisbane to be closer to family.

Melle Stewart had an operation to remove part of her skull.

Mr Lewis, who is also an actor, was forced to abandon his career to become a carer.

“Once Melle was sick I decided that if my presence at home helped her recover just one per cent of what she’s lost then it’s worth it,” Mr Lewis told the British Daily Telegraph.

Ms Stewart said she was “grieving” the loss of her career.

“It is hard. That side of things has been taken away from me,” she said.

The couple feel that they were misled about the vaccine’s safety and form part of a small group of people who are taking legal action against AstraZeneca in the UK.

The legal action could lead to as many as 80 damages claims totalling £80 million (A$153 million) over VITT.

Melle Stewart had to learn to walk and talk again.

Ms Stewart has already had a no-fault $230,000 payment the British Government — offered to those who can prove they have been made severely disabled as a result of vaccination or the families of those killed by jabs.

But the couple said the sum falls far short of their lost earnings.

“We had an expectation this vaccine was safe to use but AstraZeneca was not safe to use in this case,” Mr Lewis said.