An Australian woman has revealed how her long-term boyfriend blocked her on social media and shacked up with another woman while she was in a coma after a devastating accident.
Perth native Brie Duval, 25, was living in Canada with her partner of four years when she fell headfirst from a parking garage after a night out with friends on Aug. 29, 2021, the UK’s Mirror reported.
Deval was rushed by helicopter to the University of Alberta Hospital, where she was placed on life support with a traumatic brain injury and multiple broken bones.
The brave woman told the Mirror she was in a coma for four weeks — and doctors told her mother there was just a 10 percent chance she’d survive the catastrophic injury.
Miraculously, she emerged from the coma and showed signs of improvement — only to experience more anguish when she discovered her boyfriend had ghosted her on social media and moved in with another woman.
“I was finally given my phone and my first thought was to call him and just see if he knew what happened. He hadn’t been to see me,” Duval told the Mirror.
“So I opened my phone going to message him when a message pops up from this woman that says I am now with [partner’s name]. I have moved him out. He’s now living with me and my son, please do not contact him,” she said, describing the other woman’s heartbreaking message.
“I have not heard from him since I have been in hospital, he’s completely and utterly left me in the dust. So I don’t even have closure as to why this happened,” added Duval, who remained hospitalized for five months receiving treatment.
Making matters worse for her was not being able to see her parents after the accident due to travel restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“This was in the peak of COVID, so in Australia you weren’t allowed to leave or enter the country,” she told the Mirror.
“My mum and dad went to the government and asked for special permission to say goodbye to me as things were bad at that point. They refused them, they would not give them a chance and they would not give them a reason, they just flat out said no,” she told the outlet.
“So my mum told doctors in Canada to keep my life support on and do not under any circumstances turn that off, which they had to medically abide by,” Duval continued.
However, during her recovery, her best friend Sam drove an eight-hour round trip every weekend to visit her. Sam’s mother, Sandy, also made visits to keep her company.
“Sandy used to come and visit me every day as she lived in the city, she’d make sure I had everything I need as I didn’t have my actual mum with me,” Duval said.
The traumatic brain injury survivor now shares her experience of what it was like being in a coma and her recovery journey on TikTok under the username @hotcomagirl1, where she has racked up thousands of views.
“It’s been very hard mentally, there’s definitely a bit of PTSD from everything that has happened, I’m just trying to sort through my emotions, going through the accident and then having that letdown of a relationship,” Duval told the Mirror.
“Getting back to normal life, just trying to establish what my new normal is — I couldn’t swallow when I first woke up, I’ve had to try and learn how to walk again, from my waist down to my toes, it feels like it’s gone dead. All my muscle was just completely lost as I was laying in bed,” she continued.
“It’s frustrating not being able to do the things I want to do, my mental clarity is nowhere near where it used to be, I’ve got brain fogginess. Having a TBI [traumatic brain injury] is kind of like having concussion symptoms that are continuing. They don’t go away.”
