All-Ireland winner who underwent open brain surgery just months after son’s birth now helping others improve their lives

A courageous mother who suffered a brain injury after the birth of her son and had to undergo open brain surgery is now helping other improve their lives.

Michelle Filan is originally from Westmeath but now lives in County Mayo with her Husband and son, Coby (3) where she works as a women’s health, fitness and mindset coach, having worked in the industry for over 20 years.

Fitness has always been an important part of Michelle’s life as she was an avid GAA player and in 2011, Michelle was part of the Westmeath team that won the All Ireland final.

She said it was a day that every GAA player dreams off.

“It was an unbelievable experience.

“As a GAA player you dream of playing in Croke Park and winning on the big stage.

“For us to play in Croke Park twice and win after a replay was really special because it had been a long time since Westmeath were involved in an All Ireland final.

“Westmeath beat Dublin in an All Ireland Senior B Final in 1995 so for us to finally come along and win in 2011 in Croke Park is something I will never forget,” said Michelle.

However in 2020, that triumphant day was a distant memory as Michelle had hung up her boots and was preparing to welcome a baby into the world.

Michelle had an uncomplicated pregnancy but towards the end of her pregnancy, Coby was breech and not turning so she was booked in for an elective section on Monday, November 9, 2020.

It was during the pandemic and at a time when partners were only allowed in at very restricted times but thankfully, Coby was born safe and well.

However, things took a turn for Michelle just two days after Coby’s birth.

“I was naturally sore and tired but didn’t think anything out of the ordinary for it.

“In the early hours of November 11, I wasn’t feeling well.

“I was holding Coby having cuddles but I felt an overwhelming sense of fatigue that is hard to explain so I immediately put Coby into the bassinet beside the bed.

“I then blacked out and proceeded to have a full blown seizure.

“The curtains were closed but a woman in the bed across from me said she could hear me rattling around the bed banging off the rails and called the nurse.

“When I came to I had no recollection of where I was, who I was or that I had just had a baby.

“That moment was the scariest moment of my life to date.

“I was taken for an MRI and after tests, I was told I had an AVM on my brain,” explained Michelle.

An arteriovenous malformation is when the arteries take oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the brain.

Veins carry the oxygen-depleted blood back to the lungs and heart so a brain AVM disrupts this vital process and can lead to having a brain haemorrhage and stroke.

Brain AVMs occur in less than 1% of the population.

For Michelle, this was the start of a nine month journey to having open brain surgery.

Over the 9 months leading up to her surgery, she was under the care of Beaumont Hospital and had to travel up and down to the hospital for tests, MRI’s, Angiograms, Wada Tests and CT Scans.

Michelle had open brain surgery on September 6, 2021, and she explains that she was speaking to the surgeons while they carried out the operation.

“The operation took around seven hours and while operating, they had to wake me up so I was speaking to them while they operated.

“This was done because the part of the brain where my AVM was close to my speech centre so they wanted to try and avoid damaging it.

“My husband wasn’t allowed in because it was during Covid-19 so I had open brain surgery alone while he sat outside the hospital in Beaumont Carpark and our nine month old baby was being looked after by my sister.

“After I woke up from surgery, I thought everything was fine but things started to decline and I ended up having severe swelling on my brain.

“The next week in hospital was a blur.

“I was very ill, my head was swollen and I lost my speech, my memory – it wasn’t like the movies – and my ability to process information and understand things,” said Michelle.

She ended up spending almost one month in Beaumont hospital with very little visitors and away from her baby.

Michelle continued, “As the swelling went down I started to improve but my speech, spelling and cognitive function were still impaired.

“I was sent to the National Rehabilitation Centre in Dun Laoghaire where I had brain rehabilitation and recovery for three months.

“The staff and the people I met there were amazing.

“I had my 40th birthday in the NRH hospital in Dun Laoghaire.

“I was lucky that they let me home some weekends over that time to see my family.

“After getting out of hospital on January 18, 2022, I continued my recovery from home and this was to become the hardest part,” said Michelle.

Michelle was not allowed to drive for 16 months and her lack of independence along with the major life changes she had been through had a negative impact on her mental health.

“This whole experience completely changed me.

“I was not allowed to drive for 16 months because of a seizure and surgery.

“We live in rural Ireland so having my independence stripped overnight was devastating.

“I was running my own business during this time and trying to navigate being a first time mother and trying to process this life changing health issue so the next year really took a big toll on my overall mental health,” said Michelle.

Thankfully, things have improved and Michelle has a great feeling of gratitude for her life.

“I feel very lucky to have had the recovery that I did.

“It was slow and frustrating at times and the mental challenge of processing it all was quite overwhelming but I am sitting here now in my full health.

“I am so happy to have the awareness of how lucky I am at how my recovery went and all of the lessons I have learned over those really difficult three years will stay with me forever.

“Coby is 3 now and in preschool and is just the happiest little boy.

“I adore being a Mammy and I wasn’t someone who was always sure about motherhood but I couldn’t adore anyone more.

“The doctors have even said that he is my angel because Coby was breech, if I had had a vaginal birth who knows how this story could have gone,” said Michelle.

Michelle is now using her incredible strength and determination to change the lives of other women through her works as a women’s health, fitness and mindset coach.

She previously owned a gym but she sold it and is now concentrating on online coaching and training – something which there has been a major shift towards in recent years.

“So for me, my life circumstances had a big role to play in the decisions I made.

“I had always wanted to open a gym and I am delighted that I did but as a Mother with a family, the demands of an in-person business are high and considering I had spent 20 years on the gym floor for me taking my business online at this stage in my life was a no brainer.

“I wanted to have more flexibility and balance in my own life and then be able to reach more women because of the scope online coaching has,” said Michelle.

She has recently launched a new app and has almost 200 clients on her books.

She puts her success down to being relatable to her clients and her desire to help them improve their lives.

“I think that women want a coach who gets them, gets their circumstances and struggles, feel seen, supported and feel like someone is rooting for them.

“There are almost 200 women in our online community either 1-1 or as part of the group so it’s unbelievable to be able to be part of someone’s health, fitness and wellbeing journey.

“I help busy women reclaim their confidence, reshape their bodies and take control of their busy schedules.

“My aim is to help women feel less overwhelmed and more in control of all areas of their lives.

“Not only am I a qualified personal trainer, pre and postnatal coach and yoga teacher.

“I am currently studying to become a life coach so that I am supporting my clients in the best possible way for them,” said Michelle.

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