Life and fame in brain surgeon's hands

BY CHLOE JOHNSON

This week will probably be Jason Napier’s most significant week of his life – and he’s only 23. His life is in the hands of brain surgeons. He may wake up blind or mute. Or he may die.

But Jason, a former retail manager in Wellington, hasn’t locked the doors and crumbled into a depressive state like some may imagine when you’ve been warned you may be living your last days.

Instead, with Facebook, he’s on a mission to become famous.

In April, Jason discovered he had a brain haemorrhage as well as a medical condition called Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM).

AVM is an area of malformed arteries in the brain. The artery walls are often weak and can rupture.

Jason was born with the condition which affects the base of the left hand side of his brain. However, it wasn’t until he had severe headaches at work one day that he discovered the haemorrhage which led to the diagnosis of AVM.

“I had been working as normal that Saturday, joking and having a laugh with an employee. At around 11.45am I began yawning uncontrollable and felt drained,” Jason said.

“I looked up at a customer approaching the counter and the left hand side of his face looked as if it was melting.

 “This was the bleed creating pressure on my visual cortex.”

Jason began to feel dizzy and his head started to throb – nothing a few Panadol couldn’t fix, he thought.

Unfortunately, Jason thought wrong and the pain and feeling of being disorientated continued.

A nervous visit to the doctor, numerous tests and a phone call to a neurological specialist had Jason booked in for an emergency CT scan.

“Before I knew it, the neurologist was leaning over me saying we have found a bleed in your brain, you'll be transferred to ED," Jason said.

“All I could say was 'Oh okay'. I have never broken a bone, spent one night in hospital or had any medical issues of any sort before, so no coping mechanisms were kicking in.”

The bleed had spread 3cm across his brain which required him to have a 4-vessel angiogram – a procedure which involved inserting a catheter into his main artery in the groin, through the heart, up the back of his neck and into both sides of his brain.

“There was no anaesthetic, I was fully awake and conscious throughout the procedure,” he said.

Although Jason knew the brain haemorrhage was a serious matter he admitted to being naïve, thinking “a pill would solve the whole matter and I would return to life as I knew it the next day”.

“It wasn’t until the doctor remarked that it was great I was still walking and talking that freaked me into reality.”

Admittedly, the news Jason received in April was scary. Not only for him, but for his partner, parents and friends, too.

That was why his best friend Jo Ellmers, of 12 years, wanted to bring Jason one step closer to his dream of becoming famous – and what better way to do it than Facebook?

'The Make Jason Napier Famous Group' page already has 162 members from around the globe.

“It’s all good, this has happened for a reason so I’m just picking through what that reason is … bring it on,” he told his 'fans'.

“I’m quite confident it’s going to go perfectly. I’m going to come out better of than what I go in.”

 “Jo did create this group without my knowledge and at first I thought she was crazy … but I have forever been on the quest to find the means to become famous. I crave it, and it will happen.” Jason said.

With Jason out of action (even walking up the stairs can be a battle) the group has allowed him to stay busy replying to messages of support and keeping in touch with people.

“The greatest thing is that people are now starting to share personal memories I had completely forgotten about. It has helped me get through each day leading up to this thing.

“I have a choice to take either road - depression, self pity and illness, or positivity, motivation and appreciation for life... I choose the second by far”

Today, Jason will have a MRI and MRA scan at Wellington Regional Hospital to see if the haemorrhage has cleared. If it has doctors can perform brain surgery to remove the AVM.

He will be put in a drug induced coma for three days to allow swelling of the brain to go down.

When he wakes Jason will continue the mission to become famous.

“I have strong ambition to make a career out of the performance industry. If this means I need to create a show to host.... I will.”

 - WA Today