top of page

If you're curious about
what happened

and how it’s shaped my work...

Hi, my name's Caleb, and I survived a major stroke.

Essentially, I went from 24 to 84, overnight...

3 days after my 24th birthday, I was working out at the gym when something exploded in my head and I had a major stroke.

 

The type of stroke I had was a Grade 5 Subarachnoid Haemorrhage (the highest grading of the rarest form of stroke).

​

It was caused by a rare brain abnormality that had gone undetected — called a Dural Arteriovenous Malformation (DAVM). 

I was placed in an induced coma, fully ventilated and I spent over a month in the ICU.

 

I awoke to discover I’d lost the ability to walk, talk, swallow, see, or breathe on my own.

 

*I forgot to mention I also relearned to sneeze. Did you know you can do that? You can actually learn how to sneeze?! * Proud to say I now have great technique.

The healthcare system logged my recovery as 2.5 years of intensive inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation. But looking back, that wasn't the resolution – it was just the prologue.

That is where the real story begins. Stepping out of rehab and into real-life is where the true, unmapped journey of rebuilding a life begins. It’s where you shift from a clinical case study to a human being rewriting their narrative.

Now, I'm disrupting isolation
– one story at a time.

CHANGE MAKER

STROKE SURVIVOR.
STORYTELLER.
FACILITATOR.
FOUNDER.

Background: Graffiti brick wall. Foreground: Cal, a young 20's-30's caucasian male, with dark stubble, looking at you, very strong and serious. He wears a dark grey woollen beanie and a black eyepatch.
Cal, a young 30's caucasian male, with dark curly hair, dark stubble, round glasses. Wearing a linen shirt. He is being interviewed by a female presenter in the SBS studio (she is talking to the screen projecting Cal via video link) and is being watched by members of the in-studio audience in the television studio for SBS Insight.

"Cal presented one of the most moving accounts of head injury I have ever heard..."

- Professor Avril Drummond | Healthcare Research U.K.

"I wanted to connect with people who'd been in similar shoes as me.."

"After my stroke, I felt  lost, isolated and alone..."

"So I created a community for people to connect and recreate themselves."

Working with trusted Clients and Partners

bottom of page