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Vienna Demeduk Sworn: Fit Massage Therapist’s Sudden Stroke

Day 2 · 0:51:08 · Shawn Buckley · Vienna Demeduk · Cameron Hitchcock

  • 🏃 At 63 she had been a 7-day-a-week massage therapist running 20 km every other day with zero prior health issues.
  • 💉 One Moderna dose on 2 July 2021; on 4 July she felt a pop in her head, lost vision and walking ability mid-prep for a run.
  • 🚑 She dragged herself to a neighbour, was taken by ambulance, and diagnosed with a severe cerebellar stroke at VGH.

Second witness describes catastrophic post-vaccine stroke.

← CANRISE Data: VISP Rejection Rates and Under-Reporting | Rehab, Repeat Strokes, and Doctors Who Cannot Speak →

Transcript

Shawn Buckley · 0:51:08

Our next witness is Vienna Demidak. Vienna, would you take the Bible in your right hand, please? Vienna Demeduk, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? I'm just going to go through, you know, some of your personal details really quickly. Um, you are currently 63.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:51:38

Yes, I am. You can tell my age.

Shawn Buckley · 0:51:40

That's okay. You have 2 daughters and 2 grandsons. You were before the vaccine, your vaccination, you were a massage therapist.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:51:49

Yes.

Shawn Buckley · 0:51:50

And you worked literally 7 days a week.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:51:52

I worked constantly.

Shawn Buckley · 0:51:53

Okay.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:51:53

And I did a lot of palliative care at the end before I got injured, which, you know, sounds strange, but I loved it. I loved working with people that were that ill. Yes.

Shawn Buckley · 0:52:05

And you were hugely athletic.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:52:06

Yes.

Shawn Buckley · 0:52:07

When you and I spoke, basically you'd go 20 kilometers every other day. You swam, you cycled everywhere, you hiked, you kayaked like you're one of those persons that—.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:52:16

A little nuts.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:52:17

Yeah.

Shawn Buckley · 0:52:17

Yeah. Okay.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:52:18

A little bit over the top.

Shawn Buckley · 0:52:19

Very fit. Absolutely no health issues at all.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:52:24

No.

Shawn Buckley · 0:52:25

No. So that changed back on July 2nd, 2021. Can you share with us what happened?

Vienna Demeduk · 0:52:34

So I had my one and only Moderna shot. It was later in the day on that day, I believe. The next day I felt okay. I mean, I didn't, you know, I didn't really think about it. I was really anxious about having it because I really did not want to have this thing. But and then the morning of the 4th, July 4th, I woke up to go for one of my 20K runs. I was actually meeting some people.

Shawn Buckley · 0:53:02

So this is, this is, I think, an important point. You're actually getting dressed. You got your running gear on. Running for a 20-kilometer run. Like, so when you said earlier, like, every other day, like, you're gonna— you're just about to run for 20 kilometers.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:53:17

Yeah, running to me was like breathing. It kept me alive, like, just dissolved any trauma or anything in my life. I just run, right? But, um, that morning, um, I remember I went to reach for a, you know, a glass of water like this, and I felt this pop in the back of my head. And I remember thinking, oh God, what fresh hell is this? But I knew right away that I was having a stroke. And then I lost my sight. Like, you have to imagine this. I couldn't see. So I'm in a condo by myself and I lost my ability to walk instantly, like instantly. And I had to find my way out of the condo. I managed to get my phone in my hand and you know how there's an emergency button on the phone? I just kept hitting it. And, um, I was just— my, my thought was to try to get to the lobby because we had concierge in the building, but it was ridiculous. Like, I couldn't walk. So I got into the hallway and I, I couldn't crawl either.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:54:19

Like, I could not move. And I started dragging myself. And I don't remember a lot of this. Like, that's the thing. I don't remember talking to people. I don't remember so much of it. I fell into the neighbor's door and, you know, this young man, I think I traumatized him, but I just told him I'm having a stroke. I just had a COVID shot. Cognitively, I was very aware, but I was slurring my words. So I said, I'm not high. You know, I was really, really thin. I was super ripped. So I said, I'm not strung out on drugs. I don't have COVID. And then his mom, thank God, was there and she called 911 right away. And then I started projectile vomiting and it was the type of stroke I had. That's why I was throwing up. I had a severe cerebellar stroke and I don't remember almost anything after that.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:55:15

I remember—.

Shawn Buckley · 0:55:16

Can I just slow you down? What was the emotional experience like? You're describing us the physical, but what—.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:55:23

But you know what, I didn't even put a thought to that. Like, now when I— like, speaking about it today is— there's a lot of trauma, obviously. Um, I remember— I do remember the woman, like, stroking my hair, and she's going, oh, please don't die, sweetheart, please don't die, because I guess she thought I was gonna die. And I do remember the paramedics coming, and they— because I was so fit, they're like, okay, let's see you walk. And It was very clear that wasn't going to happen.

Cameron Hitchcock · 0:55:53

And then when I—.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:55:56

I think I was just in and out of it all day. Like, I got to— I was in the ER. I remember 5 doctors, head of VGH, like Vancouver General Hospital stroke clinic. She came in and spoke to me. There was just a whole bunch of them. Is telling me I'd had a really severe stroke. And I thought, okay, you know, I just— I, I can't describe stroke to anybody because it is beyond what you can imagine. It's— there's just no way to put into words when you've had a stroke like that capacity, right? I think I told you on the phone when I woke up, I was— it was dark out. And my daughter, my oldest daughter, was there. I was in the ICU. Um, I remember trying to act all normal, like, you know, no big deal, mom's in the ICU. I was trying to make it better for, I, you know, because I can imagine how traumatizing that was for her.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:57:00

And I don't think she realized I couldn't see. So I couldn't see her, but I could hear her. And, uh, I thought it was just an hour later, but it must have been like, you pointed out, it must have been late at night, so I must have been out for hours. But when I woke up, I mean, I was naked. There was just tubes attached to me, monitors everywhere. Um, and I thought, whoa, you know, this is—.

Speaker O · 0:57:23

It's hard.

Vienna Demeduk · 0:57:23

Like, you kind of in massive denial because I thought, yeah, just give me, you know, a couple of weeks, I'll probably be— you know, I just couldn't comprehend. And that was the beginning of the nightmare, right?