Aida Attar suffered a seizure last summer while swimming and almost died. Next week, she’s heading back to university.
“It feels like my life is coming back together,” Attar said.
It was in August 2022 when Attar was swimming at a friend’s cottage and had a seizure in the water. She only remembers what others have told her about the frantic day.
“I went under; my friend realized something was wrong so she pulled me up by my hair. At that point everyone was calling 911.”
She would be in a coma for weeks.
Attar was airlifted to the Ottawa Hospital and then transferred to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute because even with a ventilator, her lungs were not getting enough oxygen. She was put on another machine that, “basically bypasses your lungs so it takes the blood out of your body, oxygenates it and puts it back in,” she said.
Aida Attar was in a coma for several weeks after suffering a seizure while swimming in August 2022 (Aida Attar/submitted).
Only once Attar was medically stable was she able to start physiotherapy. A huge part of that was the CAREN system at the Ottawa Hospital’s Rehabilitation Centre located at its general campus.
“It stands for Computer-Assisted Rehabilitation Environment,” physiotherapist Heidi Babulic said.
“It’s the coolest technology”
Screens work alongside a moving platform, remote-controlled treadmill and surround sound.
“We can adjust whether they’re going uphill, downhill, sideways, slope so it’s much more like the regular environment that you would experience when you’re out walking and less like just walking on flat hospital floors that are perfect and smooth,” Babulic said.
“It’s the coolest technology because it really mimics what the screen is showing you,” Attar said.
The Ottawa Hospital is just one of two hospitals in Canada to have this 3D reality system, which is used both for care and research. It was installed in 2010 through a partnership with the Canadian Armed Forces and community support.
“They’re in a harness, they’re not going to fall, they’re safe and then we can really push the envelope, we can really find out where their deficits are and that really helps us target their individual treatment,” Babulic said.
It’s been a very long road to recovery for Attar but this summer she was able to get back in the water, explore Europe and will return to Carleton University to study neuroscience next week.
“Now I want to go into medicine so I’m planning on going to medical school and I’m interested in doing pediatric neurology,” Attar said, reiterating how grateful she is for those who made it possible.
“The amazing doctors I’ve worked with at the Ottawa Heart Institute, the Smiths Falls hospital and the Ottawa Hospital, the rehab centre just all of them they’re just so amazing and I just want to be part of that for somebody else because I wouldn’t be here without them.”
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