In May of 2020, music artist Kenny Bling had finished a video shoot and was driving a crew member home. When he tried to speak, nothing came out. Feeling clumsy and confused, he hit a parked car. After dropping off his passenger, his car broke down, so he pulled over on the side of the road and called his family but he couldn’t speak. He walked back to the crew member’s home and then to a friend’s house, but no one was home. He was cold, lost, and scared.
“It was a really, really hard time, but there was nothing that was going to stop me from getting better. I was on it.”
Kenny ended up staying in his car overnight, unable to communicate or get help. The next morning, he made it to a pharmacy, charged his phone, and called his girlfriend, who, along with his family, had been frantically searching for him. He gave his phone to a stranger to tell her where he was. She called an ambulance and Kenny was finally on his way to BMC to get help.
It turns out Kenny had a brain hemorrhage without a clear underlying cause, and wouldn’t have survived if he had arrived even 15 minutes later. Thankfully, neurologist-in-chief Dr. David Greer was able to stop the brain bleed and stabilize Kenny. After weeks of intensive care, he was transferred to rehab to relearn how to speak and write. “It was a really, really hard time, but there was nothing that was going to stop me from getting better. I was on it.”
Within weeks, Kenny could say “hi” and “bye,” but it was six months before he could hold a conversation and even longer before he could speak in his Jamaican dialect. Today, he’s back to work, creating Jamaican music, and enjoying time with his girlfriend, his son, and his close-knit family.
“Kenny had a marvelous, full recovery, which has been just wonderful to see!” says Dr. Greer. “He was fortunate that the hemorrhage was not large enough or in an “important enough” part of the brain to cause him to have anything less than a full recovery.”
Kenny credits Dr. Greer, his family and friends, and his own willpower for how far he’s come. “I could have died in a split second and then I was trapped by myself in my mind, for months… I wouldn’t want even my worst enemy to through this. I’m just really, really grateful I made it through.”