Woman living ’50 First Dates’ reality after husband’s severe brain injury

By Emma Dunn via SWNS

A woman is living a real-life "50 First Dates" - after her husband suffered a severe brain injury when he was flung off his motorbike headfirst into a lamp post.

Jannira Canales, 27, has to remind her husband, Norberto, 31, who she and their son is - like the film starring Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler - after the horror accident.

The pair had set off to the beach on separate bikes in July 2023 when disaster struck.

Jannira arrived with their son, Aaron, now eight, and was confused when Norberto didn't show.

She realized he had been in an accident when she saw a Facebook post with a picture of his bike and a road closed.

The family believes Noberto had been driving at speed and hit a curb and flew off headfirst into a lamppost.

He was rushed to a trauma hospital with fractures to his skull, a broken collar bone, a fractured rib, spine and a broken femur.

Noberto spent 47 days in a coma and had to have his right leg amputated when it became infected.

He was diagnosed with severe diffuse axonal injury - tearing of the brain's long connecting nerve fibers - and Jannira was told it would be unlikely he would make it.

But after 184 days in several hospitals and rehabilitation centers, Noberto is home and is able sit up by himself, talk and sing.

Jannira, who is now her husband's full-time carer, from Houston, Texas, said: "I do have a lot of hope for progression.

"But I have accepted this could be the best.

"The grief is a daily thing.

"The grief hit more when he came home.

"Faith is the only thing that keeps me going.

"Brain injuries are completely unpredictable. It's not an easy journey."

Jannira and Noberto, who used to run a well-being business together, set off on July 28, 2023, for a family evening at the beach.

Jannira said: "It was surprising that we had gotten there first.

"I called him as he had a Bluetooth helmet on but he didn't pick up.

"I saw the police had posted on Facebook about closing off a road and the picture of the motorbike.

"My stomach dropped."

Jannira rushed to the scene and was told her husband had been conscious and had a broken leg when he was taken to Ben Taub Hospital.

But when Jannira arrived at the hospital she found out things were much worse.

She said: "They said 'he's not going to make it - his blood pressure is dropping'.

"They said he had busted his head open and his brain was exposed."

Noberto was taken to surgery to stabilize him and close up the wound to his head but came out in a coma.

He had a feeding tube fitted and a tube inserted into his brain to drain the fluid and had to have his leg amputated in September when it became infected.

Doctors also diagnosed Noberto with diffuse axonal injury - one of the most severe brain injuries.

Jannira said: "It's very similar to shaken baby syndrome.

"There is damage to all of the brain.

"A lot of the doctors didn't have any hope."

In August 2023, Noberto suffered a stroke - which was causing swelling and pressure on the brain stem.

Jannira said: "I was told 'You need to start planning a funeral'.

"They said he's never going to be able to move, walk or breathe on his own.

"They thought he was going to be paralyzed.

"I have my Christian faith and I prayed.

"The next day is the first day he moved his eyes."

In September 2023 Noberto came out of his coma and would open his eyes for a couple of minutes at a time and started doing his first "purposeful movement" in October.

Jannira said: "He blew me a kiss.

"After that, it started to slowly increase."

Noberto had a surgery to fix the fractures on his skull in November 2023.

He started to move his legs, and fingers and made efforts to talk following the operation.

But when he started declining again in December he had a VP shunt placed in his brain to help it to drain fluid normally.

Noberto spent a further month in rehabilitation before he came home on January 31, 2024.

Jannira said: "When he came home he didn't know how to sit up on his own. He didn't have a lot of head control."

In March he started to get more trunk control and can now sit up by himself.

He can talk and sing but hasn't regained his full voice and only talks in whispers.

Jannira said: "He was talking but only in whispers.

"He still doesn't use his full voice.

"We don't know if it's damage to his vocal cords or if it is to do with his brain."

Noberto's short-term and long-term memory is also impacted.

Jannira said: "It's like that film 50 First Dates.

"He's like the character called ten-second Tom - who reintroduces himself every 10 seconds.

"If I'm in the middle of feeding him I'll say 'Can you tell me what you are eating?' and he can say 'I'm eating eggs'.

"But 10 minutes later if you ask he won't remember.

"I have to remind him who I am and who his son is.

"There are a few times a week when he will say who I am on his own."

Noberto experiences hallucinations and has a lack of vision in his right eye and is completely blind in his left.

Jannira said: "Caregiving is commitment.

"You have to accept that things are never going to be normal.

"You have to accept that this is the new normal and meet them where they are at.

"My husband's personality didn't change. He's still sassy, sarcastic and still laughs at jokes."