Fatima Enari with her newborn granddaughter Noella. Photo / Supplied
Fatima Enari with her newborn granddaughter Noella. Photo / Supplied
Fatima Enari flew to New Zealand from the United States excited about the impending birth of her first granddaughter and all the kisses and cuddles that were to come.
But instead of sharing all those precious first moments she has spent the past three weeks in Auckland City Hospital unaware of her granddaughter's arrival, which happened just two floors above her room in the Intensive Care Unit.
Enari suffered a severe brain injury after being hit by a cyclist on October 22. She has been drifting in and out of consciousness ever since and while the family have introduced her to the newborn she hasn't been well enough to fully register what's going on.
The 67-year-old was walking along the Northwestern shared path, in West Auckland, when she was struck by the cyclist and knocked to the ground.
"At that point she must have completely blacked out and went down like a ton of bricks," daughter Teuila told the Herald.
"Her head took everything, there were no scrapes or broken bones, just her skull became a human sponge, unfortunately."
Enari was admitted to Auckland Hospital ICU where staff performed a CT scan and found bleeding on the brain, damage to the frontal lobe and a fracture to the back of her skull.
Enari's husband Sarasopa Enari, who moved with her from New Zealand to the US in 2013, immediately boarded a flight to be by her side, along with her son Kirk and daughter-in-law Sara-Jane.
Teuila, based in Canada, also jumped on the next flight.
Teuila with her mother Fatima Enari. Photo / Supplied
Teuila said while her mother suffered a traumatic brain injury, the full extent of the damage will be unknown until she regains full-consciousness.
"She has been transferred to the Neurology High Dependence Unit where she has been in and out of consciousness for almost three weeks. It is definitely a wait and see," she said.
"They said maybe she will be in the high dependency ward for six weeks, then she will move to a regular ward for however long, and then she will go to a few months in intensive residential rehabilitation."
Teuila said her mother had been in New Zealand since September, awaiting the birth of her first granddaughter.
The baby girl was born last Monday, two floors above her critically injured grandmother.
Fatima Enari, with husband Sarasopa, is in Auckland Hospital recovering from a severe brain injury after she was hit by a cyclist. Photo / Supplied
"It has been bitter sweet. My brother brought the baby down when mum had her eyes open but it hasn't quite sunk in," she said.
"Every time the nurses ask her the year, she keeps going back to 2017. The lights are on but she is not quite home."
Teuila said police had ruled the incident an accident and the family had received little contact from the cyclist.
"We are pretty sure he is not aware of the gravity of mum's injuries," she said.
"We would like to reach out to the cyclist, more so for my mother's husband as he is not quite comprehending the whole thing. We are completely in the dark.
"As far as we are aware, the police intend to close the case and just put it down as an accident, which it more than likely is."
The family have also set up a Givealittle page to help raise funds for Enari's ongoing care.
The page has currently raised just over $4000 which, Teuila said, will help cover her mother's rent in the US and accommodation and care in New Zealand. ACC is also contributing to medical costs.
"I have been absolutely blown away with people's generosity in the past 48 hours that it has been up and running," she said.
