Zupa Nakayi-Semitego was working out at the gym in January 2025 when she felt a sudden pop in her head. “I was very dizzy. I couldn’t see properly, I was seeing blurry,” said the Dollard-des-Ormeaux resident. In severe pain, she went to the hospital, where doctors found she had suffered a stroke that caused bleeding in her brain. Dr. Marie-Christine Brunet, a neurosurgeon at The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital), says Nakayi-Semitego was diagnosed with a cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM), a rare tangle of blood vessels in the brain. “The incidence is about one or two per 100,000 population,” she said. Nakayi-Semitego needed surgery to fix the bleed. But her case was complex, she was also 23 weeks pregnant. Doctors gave her the option to delay the operation until after she gave birth. If left untreated, it carried the risk of a coma or death. Nakayi-Semitego chose to move ahead with surgery. “I had a feeling that my baby will be okay,” she said. Her instincts proved correct. At seven months pregnant, she went through a 10-hour surgery and recovered well. And in May 2025, she gave birth to her baby girl, carried to full term. Dr. Brunet said pulling it off took a full team effort, with specialists from the Montreal Children’s Hospital standing by throughout the operation. “Just in case something would happen and we would have to deliver the baby prematurely,” she said. Nakayi-Semitego has no doubt she was in the right hands. “She did this incredible thing. She saved two lives.”
