Devastating twist after young Aussie's rare holiday injury: 'Didn't believe them'

A young Aussie who developed a rare and life-threatening condition after an incident with a horse on holiday, had only narrowly survived a risky surgery to save her life to be dealt yet another devastating blow.

Paris Hedger, 20, told Yahoo News Australia she and her family are experiencing an "exceptionally hard" time after a complication during the 10-hour surgery to fix her blood pressure condition left her with a hypoxic brain injury. What's more, a week later she was confronted with the devastating news that her mum Karen, a popular bridal hair and makeup artist in Adelaide, had died suddenly.

The young woman, who flew to Melbourne for the surgery, now faces a long road to recovery without the support of her mum.

Speaking of the moment the news of her mum's death was broken to her, she told Yahoo, "My dad came into my room all shaken up and was in a panic," she said, adding she was confused about her mum's whereabouts. “My Dad then said 'who is going to tell her' and he started to cry'." It was a social worker who eventually broke the gut-wrenching news to her.

"I didn't believe them at first, I thought it was all some bad dream or joke. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to hear," she said.

Karen, mum to three beautiful daughters Keischa, Paris, and Charlie was found by her partner Aaron unconscious in their bed with no pulse and not breathing on August 20. "She passed away at home, where my two sisters and mum's partner Aaron, had to unfortunately witness the whole thing unfold," Hedger said.

"The coroner has since contacted the family confirming that the cause of death was due to her mitral valve prolapse, causing her heart to go into ventricular fibrillation."

Young Aussie faces long recovery after holiday injury

While Hedger is grieving the loss of her mum, she is also attempting to recover from the brain injury that has her struggling to walk, talk and even eat.

Doctors believe the blood pressure condition, known as chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), was brought on when she flew on a long-haul flight to the US weeks after a horse kicked her leg in Vanuatu in November last year. It's understood the injury impacted her blood pressure and has had a cascading impact on her health ever since.

The surgery in Melbourne saw medics "drain all the blood" from her body in the hope of locating and removing hundreds of blood clots inside her lungs. But a complication meant surgeons had to go back and perform a second surgery due to a bleed around her heart.

"I was in a medically induced coma for two days and I can’t remember any of it," she said. "I don’t even remember the morning of the surgery. I don’t remember going under or anything." In a video posted to social media she said "waking up was hell" and she was unable to talk, move, drink or swallow.

"I lost 10 kilos which I am trying to gain back now," she explained. Speaking through tears from the brain injury rehab centre in Adelaide, she said it was "the worst time of our lives. I just don’t believe what is happening".

Hedger said that the brain injury, which has left her struggling to speak, is "the most annoying thing in the world", adding "I know what want to say I just can’t get it out. It’s the most annoying thing."

Brave Aussie faces long rehab journey

As for the future, Hedger faces "a lot of rehab", and she and her family are trying to take things "one day at a time".

For her mum's funeral on Thursday, Hedger says she is determined to speak at the service. She says the one thing getting her through is the support from her social media followers and all those that have donated to her GoFundMe.

"We are so overwhelmed with support and the outreach has been insanely positive," Hedger said.

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