After losing her husband within months of surviving a medical emergency against all odds, a Devonshire mother of two aims to fulfil their joint dream of helping others.

Rosana Vickers suffered a series of family tragedies — including her own near-fatal illness, the death of her husband Eugene and of a cousin in a road accident.

“I was distraught”, Ms Vickers said, “but I was given a second chance at life and I decided that I had to continue on with life.

“I did not want to go into any sort of depression — I decided that, with the help and support from my family, my friends, even some of my former clients — I have a reason to live.”

The certified life coach explained that in 2005 she and partner Joanne Odoli had set up the Bermuda Anger Management, Mediation and Professional Services, which provides educational programmes and mediation for adults dealing with anger, family and relationship issues, and victim services.

“So after my husband died, I decided I’m going to continue the work that we both loved to do and that was help other people.”

Ms Vickers works with private and government agencies and takes on clients who have been referred as a condition of their probation or parole.

“I’m not the type to sit home and twiddle my thumbs,” Ms Vickers said. “I realised that this is what I was born to do — this is my purpose and I am going to do it.

Ms Vickers said she has developed new programmes and will be offering “He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not” classes to teach relationship skill building for women starting in April. “My programmes are called Second Chance Programmes, like I was given a second chance, because many of my referrals come from court or Child and Family Services — it’s giving these people a second chance also.”

Ms Vickers, who is also training to be a volunteer with the Sycamore Tree Project, explained that she and her husband, “a community man”, had cofounded the support group Calling All Men in 2013.

She said that the group had “helped keep my husband alive because he loved it so much, and I am going to keep our dream alive.”

Ms Vickers’ trials began when she suffered a massive brain haemorrhage during a family evening out at Cambridge Beaches on July 7 last year.

It started with a sudden headache, which lasted a few seconds, and then she felt “sick to her stomach” as they drove home.

Not suspecting anything serious, she took painkillers and went to bed.

But daughter Shanée Strong became worried when her condition had not improved five days later and insisted she go to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH).

An MRI scan revealed that she had suffered a subarachnoid haemorrhage — a massive brain bleed.

“When you have a haemorrhage you can have a leak like a tire, or you can have a blowout — I had the blowout, but for some reason, which is a mystery to the doctors, it stopped,” Ms Vickers said.

She was airlifted to Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital that evening, where surgeons used a special glue to prevent further bleeding during a six-hour operation.

“They had to go back in a few days later to ensure that it was working, so it was a total of eight hours of surgery,” Ms Vickers said, “and it was successful.

“The type of aneurysm I had, they told me abroad there are no survivors and in Bermuda they said 90 per cent die immediately.

So I became part of a medical study as to why I lived and was walking around for five days with this going on.”

Ms Vickers returned to Bermuda on July 19 last year — her mother’s birthday.

But she added: “Our joy and happiness was short-lived because that next morning my cousin was killed in a motorcycle accident.”

In August that year, Ms Vickers quit her job as Programme Director for the Centre Against Abuse to focus on her mental and physical recovery. She returned to Boston on September 10 for a check-up and on that same day her husband Eugene Vickers — a retired Commandant of the Bermuda Reserve Police — was admitted to KEMH.

“It’s almost like he waited for my OK and then he became the first patient in the new wing of the hospital.”

“In October, he took a turn for the worse and they airlifted him out the day before the hurricane was due to hit — his flight was the last flight out of the airport before they closed.”

Ms Vickers said she spoke to him that evening and he seemed to be doing well.

But once the storm had passed and people began assessing the damage, Ms Vickers received the phone call informing her that her husband had died.

Ms Vickers said that despite everything she has been through “you cannot let your circumstances take you down.

“Yes, it hurts, its painful, but you can live and focus on the positive, the good memories, the awesome family and friends,” she added. “I was given a second chance and I am going to live.”

• For more information on the Bermuda Anger Management, Mediation and Professional Services call 735-5861.