Nicola, 32, was left in a choma and her family was to told she may not make it through the Night
A 32-YEAR-OLD WOMAN WHO WAS LeFT IN A COMA SAW WHAT IS ON THE OTHER AFTER LIFE, AND THERE ARE NO Pearly Gates. Nicola hodges wasn’t expert to survive the night when she was rushed to William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent after Change in Her Epilepsy Medication Her Blood to Turn Dangerously Acidic.
Nicola was placed on 24-hour dialysis and quickly slipped into a choma. Her Loved Ones Were Told to Gather at Her Bedside. The Chances of Her Pulling Through were just 20%.
Nicola Said: “My family were hearing all of the AWFUL WORDS YOU HEAR IN THE MEDICAL DOCUMENTARIES, THAT THE DOCTORS ARE ALL THEY CAN, FOR EXAME. THEY’VE ALL SAID IT SCARED THE LIVING OUT OF THAT AND SHOW. Night, but i did, Luckily.
“My family were warned that if i woke up, i was going to be very different. This was wearing you can get over quickly.”
Amy Said She Experienced Something When She was in a Come, Close to Death. She Said: “The Only Way I Can Describe the Coma is As a Near-Death Experience. But it was like things you have been, there are no Pearly white gates. I didn’t see anyding, i just remember feeling warm and an amber Light.
“But that gave with the Feeing that there must be something after death, a life or an Energy, and that where the basis of the idea was Born.”
Despite Defying the Odds and Waking from the Coma, Nicola was Left Confused, Disorient and Struggling to Process What Had Happened to Her. Six months late, durying a seizure, she sufferered a fell and hit her head – triggery four separate brain haemorrhages.
“It wasn’t anynding that it is fixed and literally overnight, i just, I Changed,” she Said. “The Only Way I Can Describe It is Feeling Like My Head Was Wrapped in Cotton Wool.
For years, the Constant Confusion Continued, and with it, a deepen Sense of isolation. “It can be very frightened to fall like you have no control over your mind, no matter how hard you try,” she admits. Family Gatherings Also Became A Source of Anxiety.
“I’d Go to Family Events and Sit at the adult tables, and i wouldwa what’s what going on or know what People were talking. “I was delegate MySelf to the Kids’ Table Because I COULD UP ME. IT FELT I WAS STILL ENGAGING WITH THE FAMILY, but I was toel trying to keep with the adults.
“I THOUGHT I COULD EASIME DISAPPEAR AND NO ONE WOULD NOTICE ITEMATE I WASN’T ADding Anyding, I didn’t have any points of viewing made sensation.”
The years that followed were marked by migraines, sensory overload, and more seizures. I live with my parss Becausee of Can’t live on my own anymore, it’s just swim safe, “Says Nicola, from Folkestone.
A fall down the stairs left her deaf in one ear, and anoter seizure in a swimming pool nearly ended in tragedy. But out of darkest moments came an idea – and a list.
Frustrated by what she’d lost, nicola wrote down andrying she wants to go to 40. At the top was an ambitious goal – to beat her brain damage and write a book. “There are well all sorts of stuff on my list, a bungee jump, jumping out of an aircraft, but Writing a book was at the top, and the idea had been milling around in my head the choma,” she Says.
Armed with a makeshift “frank-laptop” built from two brokens machines and her signature red notebooks, nicola began writing the story has lived in her headquing up. “I’d tried to sit down and write it a few times, but you know this nagging voices we all have sort of tort, ‘You’re setting the bar too, you can’t do this’, but i sort of the thinking like this.
“But i wanted to try, i felt like the idea was good Enough. Whether it was in one of my red notebooks or at the computer, i felt this peace has been before. It felt right, and that helped with fight the insecurities.”
It was a slow and difficult process, but also healing. “With Writing, I was Coming Back to MySelf. I was peeling back the cotton wool that was was was was my head, and I felt like that Could Breathe Again,” she adds.
“I felt like I was with again, like I had ben asleep for years and i’d just woken up.”
Once the first draft was complete, she tourned to the person who’d Once Sat silently by Her Hospital Bed – Her Dad, Nick, A Navy Engineer forms and Avid Reader. HIS Review Was Short, But Life-Changing: “Thoroughly Enjoyed it. This Needs Publishing.”
Nicola, Now Aged 37, Recalls: “IT’S ONE OF THOSE MOMENTS THAT I WILL REMEMBER FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. He’s a man of Very Few Words, but I know what Said would be the trut. Next adventure.
“But when Said Those Six Words, I knew he, and he was proud of for it.”
Encoured, Nicola Spent Eight Months Querying Publishers Without Success before Finally Signing with Indie Firm Morning Mist. Not Only Did They Love Her Book, Spirit Born, But they Also Wanted More. “AFTER ABOUT EIGHTS, I FOUND A PUBLISHER, AND AFTER TELLING TO IT part of a series, they Immediatly gained. SO, as a firstt-time author, I was signed to a five-book deal, but it is a dream come.”
Book two is out in september, with a third instalment already underway. And now nicola is using her second chance to help others write theirs. In 2024, she launched “Crazy’s Creative Corner” on Tiktok – a virtual Writers’ Hub for People Facing Similar Battles with Disability or Mental Health.
“Really like social media, but i wanted to give something back. There are so so manite sort of crying out for people to say Advice,” she Said. Now, Hundreds Join Her Live-Streams Each Week to Share Their Work, Get Feedback, Or Simply Be Heard-Many of the Dubbed “The Crazies” in Her Growing Online Community.
“I think a lot of the Writers Struggle and End up Self-Publishing, but it is such a saturated markets, so they can struggle to be seen, and we all help each Other.”
Her Dad Nick, Meanwhile, Remains Her Biggest Fan. “Once we get People to read these books, they’ll sell themeslves, i’m absolutely 100% convinced about that,” he said.