“One day you are healthy, the next minute you are not,” said Gemma Presley, reflecting on the moment her family’s life was turned upside down.
On 26 July 2025, her husband Matt, 42, suffered a catastrophic brain bleed caused by a rare and undiagnosed Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM).
It was an ordinary Saturday morning, and Matt was getting ready to take his son to sport.
“He got out of the shower and bent over to put his shorts on and could not move his left leg,” said Gemma.
“So, he called me for some help, and it did not click straight away what was going on. Him and I were both sort of laughing about it to start with.”
Within minutes, Matt developed a severe headache and lost control of his body.
Gemma said his condition deteriorated rapidly in front of her and their young children.
The ambulance arrived from Narrabeen within six minutes of Gemma’s call to find Matt unconscious and unresponsive at their home in Elanora Heights.
“You just never think something like this is going to happen to your family.
“He was just the most active person, he went to work all day, came home, played with the kids, mowed the lawn, up the trees, just never sat down,” she said.
“You go from two parents looking after two children and two jobs and two incomes and then there is one person fighting for their life and the other person is fighting to protect everything else you had and your children.”
Matt was rushed into emergency brain surgery to stop the bleeding and relieve pressure.
He spent three weeks in Intensive Care (ICU) under heavy sedation and another four in the neurological ward.
Doctors faced an agonising decision. Remove the AVM or risk another life-threatening rupture.
Gemma said: “If they had left the AGM in, he was high risk for another bleed, stroke or death. So, there was not an option other than to do the surgery.”
After seven weeks in hospital, surgeons performed the high-risk procedure to remove the AGM.
What was expected to be a four-hour operation became a complex 10-hour surgery as doctors discovered the AVM was much larger than anticipated.
Against all odds, the operation was successful, and Matt remained in an induced coma for nearly three weeks.
“They gave him 60 times the normal amount of sedative to put someone in a coma so that his brain could heal.
“When they stopped it, it took a really long time for him to come out of the coma,” Gemma said.
When he woke earlier this month, doctors discovered he needed a pacemaker to stabilise his heart.
Matt has since begun his first day of rehabilitation following the successful heart surgery.
Doctors initially were not sure whether he had suffered brain damage, but Gemma said his speech, swallowing, and long-term memory all appear to be strong.
The bleed caused a stroke, leaving Matt without mobility on the left side of his body. The family’s current home, with its steep internal staircase, may not be suitable depending on the level of movement Matt is able to regain.
“His goal, and my goal, would be to get him home for Christmas. It would be so nice.”
“We rent, so we need to find somewhere that is single level, potentially with disabled showers or handrails in the shower and ramps up to the front door.”
Family, friends and local business have rallied around the Presley’s during this unimaginable time, and tomorrow Saturday (25 October), Dee Why Bowling Club will use their family day celebration to fundraise for Matt.
All proceeds from the event and the online donation page will go towards adapting the family home to support Matt’s recovery and help him return safely to his children.
“I think we have more prizes for the raffle than we might sell tickets, local businesses have been amazing,” Gemma said.
