Just four days before her 21st birthday, Kayla Smith was learning to walk again… not because of a fall or a sports injury but after life-saving brain surgery to remove two tumours that changed everything in an instant.
Johannesburg, South Africa (25 March 2025) – Just days before turning 21, Kayla Smith’s life took a sharp and terrifying turn. In her third year of studying occupational therapy at Wits University, she found herself facing an unthinkable diagnosis: two brain tumours that would require immediate surgery.
Now, five years later, the 26-year-old occupational therapist reflects on the journey that changed everything. And how she rebuilt her life, step by step, with grit, love, and sheer determination.
The surgery, a craniotomy at Netcare Milpark Hospital, was a success in removing the tumours but the road that followed was anything but easy. The trauma to her brain left Kayla unable to walk, struggling with vision, coordination, and basic functioning. But she was determined to reclaim her independence.
“In the first days after surgery, I could not focus my eyes; I had to learn to make sense of vision and sound again,” Kayla recalls.
“After a week in the intensive care unit, I was transferred to Netcare Rehabilitation Hospital, where I think my background in occupational therapy made me quite a stubborn patient , always trying to do things for myself, which I thought could help speed up my recovery.”
That determination set the tone for her stay. For a month, Kayla underwent intensive multidisciplinary therapy, learning to walk again and rebuild not only her body but her life. Her rehabilitation journey coincided with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, making an already isolating experience even more complex.
Dr Anrie Carstens, a GP with a focus on rehabilitation who helped treat Kayla, remembers her strength well.
“Kayla was extremely driven and determined to become independent as quickly as possible. Her cerebellum had been affected, and she was struggling with muscle control and coordination on the right side of her body. She was also dizzy and experienced double vision, which contributed to her poor balance.”
But Kayla wasn’t the kind of person to let that stop her. She threw herself into OT, physiotherapy, speech therapy and every small win became a building block.
“Kayla was very involved in her own recovery… she realised the value of working hard and mastering the small steps that add up to regaining independence,” Dr Carstens adds.
Still, Kayla admits she was a bit rebellious in her early days of recovery.
“I didn’t want to use the wheelchair, and I didn’t want to call for assistance going to the bathroom – even though I wasn’t at a stage of recovery where I was physically ready for that,” she laughs.
Looking back now, she recognises how her perspective has changed and how important the cognitive aspects of therapy really were.
Rehabilitation programme manager Sharize Schaerer, who oversaw the coordination of her care, says their goal was always to match therapy to Kayla’s needs using an evidence-based model.
“The ultimate aim of our rehabilitation is to enable our clients to realise and achieve their full potential. Through Kayla’s persistence and hard work and the holistic approach of the interdisciplinary team, she has achieved just that.”
After a month in inpatient care, Kayla went home to continue her journey. She credits her parents, and even her aunt, a dance teacher who helped with home exercises during lockdown, with playing a massive role in her progress.
By 2021, Kayla was back at university. She completed her degree, returning to the same hospital where she had been a patient for job shadowing.
Now, fully qualified and working as an occupational therapist, Kayla brings her own lived experience to the role… something no textbook can teach.
“I got my best marks trying to prove people wrong about their assumptions,” she says with a smile.
And in a beautiful full-circle moment, Kayla recently got engaged to David, her partner who stood by her side through it all. They’re now planning their wedding, a joyful milestone she once wondered if she’d ever reach.
“I have seen that it takes a community to support a person after a brain injury. We would be nowhere without all the people who help us in the journey to rebuilding a life. Healthcare professionals, family members, and loved ones make all the difference in our potential for recovery. I was fortunate to have that support in absolute abundance,” she says.
Kayla’s story is one of hope, heart and the kind of strength that inspires those facing the unimaginable. From lying in a hospital bed learning to walk again to standing tall in a white dress beside the love of her life… she’s proof that no matter how difficult the road, with courage, community, and a touch of defiance, the view at the end can still be utterly beautiful.
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