‘My son had three strokes at age 18’
But family is seeing slow progress at Dar Bjorn
“Mummy” was the last word that 18-year-old Keith Carabott uttered before he lost consciousness after suffering the last of three strokes two years ago.
The healthy young man with no medical history suffered the first stroke while jumping rope on his roof in February 2022.
He was rushed to hospital and, a few days later, suffered two other strokes. Keith needed a craniotomy – an operation that involved removing part of the skull to relieve the pressure on his brain.
“After the craniotomy, he was severely brain-damaged. That’s when we lost Keith. He was not opening his eyes and not moving,” says his mother Victoria, standing by his side.
The family did not give up. During these two years there has been some progress.
“We’ve gained a lot. We are seeing more and more of Keith coming back slowly.
“Gradually he started opening his eyes and moving. We are noticing that he sometimes understands what we tell him, but he is not able to give us back,” his mother says.
The progress, albeit small and slow, is what is keeping his family going. And it is visible.
As his mother caresses his face, he follows her with his eyes. He then lifts his hand into hers and his expression changes from a serious one to a softer one – a smile almost.
Keith just turned 21 on April 29. His parents, Omar and
Victoria, and his younger brother, Matthias, celebrated his birthday at Dar Bjorn in Żebbuġ where Keith has been living for a year now.
They had a Juventus-themed celebration that included relatives, his friends and other residents of the home.
Keith loved sports, especially football, and was a keen player for Żurrieq. He was also studying to become an accountant and, in the meantime, he was working in a call centre.
The day of The sTroke
On February 15, 2022, Keith went to work at the call centre and his mother picked him up from work at about 4pm.
“It was a Tuesday. That day I picked him up from work and he was his usual bubbly self, listening to a new song.”
At one point, he went on the roof of their Żurrieq home with his younger brother and father to do his workout. It was about 5.30pm and he had just started jumping rope when he suddenly held his head complaining of a strong headache and lost control of his body.
“When my husband called and told me what happened, I knew he was having a stroke,”
said Victoria, who works in the healthcare sector.
“I was about 20 minutes’ walk away. I decided to stop the first car I saw and ask them to take me home. Thankfully it happened to be a friend of mine, Amy, a stroke nurse.”
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As he was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, Keith was alert and even recited his ID card number.
He was admitted to ITU and put on a ventilator so his body could rest and tests carried out. Two days later, he suffered another stroke while in hospital but he was still communicating. Then, three days after that, came the third stroke.
“I was with him and he was pressing my hand hard. The last word before he losing consciousness was: ‘mummy’. Then he lost consciousness,” she recalls.
As Keith underwent the craniotomy, the family were left trying to cope with the shock.
“Once, I was pacing up and down and a nurse told me that I will never get an answer to what went wrong. And it’s true. I just had to accept the situation,” she says.
Keith spent 10 weeks in ITU and was then transferred to the neuro-medical ward where he spent a year and three months before moving to Dar Bjorn in Żebbuġ as soon as it opened its doors.
For the past year, he has been undergoing physiotherapy and occupational therapy that includes brain stimulation.
“We’ve gained a lot. The ambiance of the room helps. He used to love his room. It was his haven. This feels like his own room here,” his mother says.
“Some things are still very sore for me. I try to go into the room and out because I miss him. Every time I open his wardrobe I cry as I see clothes he used to wear.”
But Victoria says she is lucky to have her son at Dar Bjorn. Initially, after the incident, the family wanted to take Keith home, but were told he was not medically fit.
“And we have our younger son to think of also. Here, at Dar Bjorn, we have the support of others who are going through similar things. Here we laugh together, and we cry together. They understand what you are going through,” she says.
“Whoever’s going through it: just keep on going and don’t give up. Don’t act like it isn’t happening, because it is. The longer you take to accept it, the longer it takes to start looking after who you need to look after.
“Keith had a passion for life and, seeing him like this, is hard. But we need to keep looking forward because no one will care for him the way we will.”
“We are seeing more and more of Keith coming back slowly