Brianna marries love of her life after surviving catastrophic stroke while pregnant
Three years ago, Brianna was fighting for life in hospital after suffering a catastrophic brain bleed while pregnant. The love of her life didn’t leave her side.
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It was a moment many years in the making. On May 6, Brianna Covich finally walked down the aisle to marry not only the love of her life, but the man who has been her greatest support.
Her husband Jonathan Covich, 39, has been by her side every day since a catastrophic stroke almost claimed her life and that of their unborn daughter Mahali.
The Herald Sun shared her story then: how on an ordinary April night in 2022 the extraordinary and horrible happened.
Super fit Covich was 17 weeks pregnant and busy planning their wedding when she felt an explosion in her head.
An ambulance raced her to the Royal Melbourne Hospital where Covich, 32, was met by emergency doctors, including Emma West.
West is a mum of four who has treated thousands of patients in the hospital’s emergency department.
She said this one still stands out.
“I remember the time of day, I remember everything about it, but I remember mostly walking into that room and going, ‘this is going to be bad, this is real’.”
West said she was with an amazing team focused on getting Covich diagnosed and into the hands of neurosurgeons as quickly as possible.
“It was interesting because although Brianna couldn’t speak and she couldn’t do anything, she could communicate with us,” West said.
“I remember thinking how terrified she must have been so I whispered in her ear, ‘we’re going to look after you, it’s going to be OK’, and then she squeezed my hand.
“I know what it is like to be a mum, and this was her first baby so she would have been so excited and she was clearly fit and healthy, and then suddenly she’s at the mercy of the people around her to care for her.”
Rushed into surgery it was discovered Covich’s life-threatening brain bleed had been triggered by a congenital brain arteriovenous malformation (AVM). This is a tangled web of blood vessels connecting arteries and veins that had been there, dormant and dangerous, since her brain was forming as a foetus.
Being fit saved mother and child because the odds were stacked against them. Only one in 20,000 survive such a catastrophic rupture and being pregnant was an added complication.
“My neurosurgeon had to worry about Mahali’s heartbeat, my heartbeat. The best chance of survival Mahali had was me, because I’m the vessel.”
Covich spent 11 months in hospital and gave birth at 36 weeks to Mahali Audrey Marie – named in honour of her grandmothers – via caesarean.
But it was Mr Covich who got to take their newborn home for the first time. He is the parent who Mahali still calls for to pick her up, to hold her.
He visited the hospital every day with their daughter; a crib was set up in Covich’s room.
“Jonathan was a full-time dad, he has been incredible, but it was still heartbreaking that your daughter has to go home without you,” Covich said.
It also made bonding more difficult.
“All she knows is dad can hold me, dad can look after me. Mom’s just there for talking. Even now, you know, that’s a big challenge. I’m her emotional support, but physically I can’t do what she wants.
“I have explained to her that something happened to mummy’s brain; it will get better, just not now, baby.”
She lights up when talking about her daughter.
“Mahali is a firecracker, very boisterous and an extrovert like me.”
Three years on Covich is learning to walk. It has been hard work, but she was determined.
“There’s light at the end of the tunnel,” she said. “You know, I was told I would never walk or use my arm again and I’d be using a hoist lift for life. Well I’m learning to walk.
“They told me I’d wake up with no memory. My memory is great. I think they give these grim prognosis but they don’t know the power of determination and willpower.”
Her doctor is not surprised.
“There’s nothing she can’t do, she’s a tower of strength. Tell her something she can’t do and she’ll go and do it,” West said.
“She’s my inspiration.”
In May the couple eloped, just the two of them.
“Getting married was definitely part of our journey,” Covich said. “A big part because we had wanted to get married when we had Mahali, and then we’ve been waiting for this special time, the right time.”
Now she is preparing to return to work and has also started writing a book she’ll call They Call It Hope.
A move to Mr Covich’s native New Zealand may also be on the cards.
“Jonathan has spent his whole time here. He moved countries for me and has had to deal with a lot of trauma.”
And while she regularly catches up with West as the face of the RMH Foundation Appeal that helped to raise more than $3 million for a new CT scanner, Mr Covich only recently saw the doctor who helped save his family for the first time since that terrifying night in the ER.
“It was awful for him as much as it was for Brianna and you could see his love for her when I first met him,” West said.
“He’s so committed to her. You could see the joy in their faces after they showed me the photos of the wedding.”
For Covich she said it may have been three years in the making, but walking down the aisle holding her husband’s arm had brought them full circle.
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