Man with blood clot in brain 'the size of a golf ball' overcomes odds

SINGAPORE — Noel Peter Xavier was pulled from the brink of death almost 11 years ago at the age of 40.

Then a workaholic and a party animal, he felt unwell on May 13, 2013, after a party at his friend's place.

"It happened to be Mother's Day that day, and I was rushing home to share a meal with my mother. She had prepared briyani, my favourite," said Xavier, who was divorced at the time.

"I was on my way home when I felt the left side of my body pulling away from the rest of me. It felt heavy. My head was spinning and I threw up. To steady myself, I sat by the kerb. That was when I blacked out. I guess passers-by thought I had a heart attack, and they called an ambulance."

He had suffered a stroke, and doctors found a blood clot the size of a golf ball in his brain. After two operations — during one of which he suffered another stroke on the operating table — Xavier fell into a coma, with doctors giving him only a five per cent chance of survival.

But he overcame the odds and even wrote a book, titled Zero To Hero, which documents his journey out of darkness. It will be launched at the National Library in Victoria Street in early June.

Now 50 years old, the chatty Xavier is a shadow of his former self. He can walk, albeit slowly, as he still has not regained full strength in his left side, and depends on a personal mobility device when he takes public transport to and from work.

He told The Straits Times that he joined the Republic of Singapore Air Force when he was 20, and worked as a helicopter simulator operator.

"I had to... be physically fit to keep up with the pilots. So I exercised every day without fail," he said.

Things changed after he left the service six years later.

He found a job with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority and was stationed at Woodlands Checkpoint. Not too fond of shift work, Xavier left after four years to work as a manager of a condominium.

"I not only worked hard, I also played hard. My friends and I would go to discotheques to drink and dance the night away. I would return home only in the morning," he said.

This lifestyle took a toll on his health, till he collapsed in 2013.

The doctors at the emergency department of Singapore General Hospital initially thought he had a heart attack.

"I was told later that one doctor suspected it was not and asked for an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan to be carried out on my brain. That was when the clot, the size of a golf ball, was detected. I was immediately wheeled into the OT (operating theatre)," Xavier said.

Dr Vincent Ng, who heads the Department of Neurosurgery at the National Neuroscience Institute in Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said Xavier had suffered a haemorrhagic stroke or brain bleed at the point of his collapse and he would be considered to have had a stroke then.  

"The overall risk of death from haemorrhagic stroke is about one in five," Dr Ng said.

Stroke is Singapore's fourth leading cause of death, accounting for 6.8 per cent of all deaths each year. It is also the seventh leading cause of adult disability, accounting for 4.2 per cent of the years of life lost owing to disability.

According to data from the Singapore Stroke Registry Annual Report published in November 2023, the number of young stroke patients is relatively small compared with those aged 60 and above, but the incidence rates for both groups have risen over the years.

In the 40 to 49 age group, which Xavier belonged to when he had his stroke, the incidence rate went up from 73.4 to 97.5 per 100,000 population, a 33 per cent rise over 10 years from 2011 to 2021.

Xavier said that during the emergency surgery, the surgeons "tried to vacuum the clot to diffuse it, but they could not".

He underwent a second operation to have the blood clot extracted. He also had part of his skull removed in case of swelling.

Xavier then spent the next 2½ months in intensive care.

"I was in a coma. I was told later that I had suffered another stroke on the operating table and my doctors gave me a five per cent chance of surviving," he said, adding that his father had already prepared the hearse.

"But I beat the odds and survived because I was not ready to meet my maker, not just yet," he said.

"When I regained consciousness, I was told by my doctor that I would never walk or talk normally again. I remember seeing my mother crying each time I opened my eyes. She was worried, not knowing what my future was going to be like," he said.

He is, after all, the only son in the family and the apple of his mother's eye. He has two older sisters.

Xavier said he initially had severe short-term memory loss and needed his mother to remind him of almost everything.

He underwent a third operation to insert a titanium plate in the part of his skull that was removed in earlier surgery.

When he was in a better condition, he was transferred to the rehabilitation centre at Bright Vision Hospital in Hougang. Even then, he was still in a bad state — bedridden, with his head always tilted to one side, and he drooled all the time.

"My father constantly told me then that since my left limbs were not working, to cut and throw them away. I went into depression, and if not for my foreign helper Suparmi who screamed and scolded me, I would have killed myself," he said.

"She told me that I was selfish and that my family loved and needed me. That was when I 'woke up' from the darkness."

Xavier went into rehabilitation with gusto after that and regained a bit of strength. He also worked on his brain with an occupational therapist, trying to remember things by carrying out repetitive tasks, doing mathematics and reading.

Five months later, he left the step-down care institution. He went on to take courses to improve himself and is now certified in neuro-linguistic programming, which is a way of changing someone's thoughts and behaviours to help the person achieve desired outcomes.

He even found love at the rehabilitation centre — it was where he met his wife Romelita, who is a senior nurse there. They have a nine-year-old son.

Xavier, now a dealer at one of the casinos in Singapore, hopes his story will be an inspiration to others. With sponsorship from a friend, he has published 1,000 copies of his book.

"I hope that by reading my book, those who are in despair will turn around and find the strength to make something of their lives, of themselves," he said.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.