Gilgandra mother Jessica Tink’s miraculous recovery after brain bleed

A northwestern NSW mother has had a miraculous recovery after experiencing a brain bleed which saw her spend five days in a coma and nine weeks in ICU. Here’s her story.

Jessica Tink with her partner Jason Conolly after surviving a brain bleed.

Gilgandra’s Jason Conolly will never forget the moment he was told by a group of doctors that they did not expect his long-term partner to survive brain surgery.

Mr Conolly looked over to the Northern Beaches Hospital bed at Frenchs Forest where his partner Jessica Tink lay covered in tubes and surrounded by her three wide-eyed children aged 7, 9 and 14.

The children were playing music for their mother and putting seashells into her motionless hands, waiting for her to wake up. He didn’t know how to tell them.

But then a miracle happened.

Ms Tink began to move her fingers, shortly after her eyes finally cracked open and she began writing messages to her family on a whiteboard.

Ms Tink surrounded by her family in hospital.

Now, she can speak and is about to enter rehabilitation.

The medical journey began when Ms Tink was diagnosed with a hydrocephalus earlier this year, which is a medical condition that involves a build-up of excess spinal fluid on her brain causing hypertension.

Ms Tink was diagnosed with hydrocephalus.

She underwent a successful operation in April to regulate the excess fluid, however Ms Tink suffered a brain bleed shortly after for unknown reasons.

“When she was in recovery, she wasn’t waking up how they were expecting her to,” Mr Conolly told this publication.

Mr Conolly said Ms Tink was rushed back to hospital for an emergency craniotomy, which involved removing a section of the right side of her skull to stop the bleeding.

“Her brain began swelling excessively and I was told when she was taken to ICU that they did not expect her to survive her injuries,” he said.

Mr Conolly was told his partner would not survive the surgery.

Ms Tink was put into a coma in a critical condition for five days while her family gathered around and Mr Conolly tried to explain the situation to their children.

“She became responsive but then she had a severe chest infection and had to undergo another surgery,” he said.

Weeks went by and Ms Tink remained unresponsive.

The first night she squeezed Mr Conolly’s hand was “really emotional” and he said the experience had been exhausting and difficult with lots of ups and downs.

“She’s put up an amazing fight to get to this stage, the ICU staff have been brilliant and they’ve all voiced how amazed they are at how strong Jess is and how she basically got through the impossible,” he said.

Ms Tink has spent 10 weeks in ICU and is expecting to head to a rehab facility this week, where she will spend months trying to regain movement on the left side of her body.

A GoFundMe has raised more than $14,000 to support the family with travel expenses, accommodation costs and more while Ms Tink recovers.

Got a story? Email [e-mail]

Originally published as Gilgandra mother Jessica Tink’s miraculous recovery after brain bleed