The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

WITH tears in his eyes, Ray Wood finally met the man he believes gave him a second chance at life.

Five years after collapsing from a major stroke during a wedding anniversary trip in The Bahamas, the 58-year-old American returned to Doctor’s Hospital to thank consultant neurosurgeon Dr Susheel Wadhwa, who treated him during a critical two-week period when his survival was uncertain.

And he told The Tribune that today he’s just grateful to be alive.

For the past year, Mr Wood had focused on meeting the doctor who operated on him as his condition rapidly deteriorated.

That moment came last Friday, when he met Dr Wadhwa and they revisited the CT scan that revealed the bleeding in Mr Wood’s brain.

“I was a policeman for 28 years,” he told The Tribune. “I can't tell you how many times I was shot at. I can't tell you how many times the bad guy tried to take my life. Here I am, celebrating life and having a great time and have this come up and a man that can save my life.”

Dr Wadhwa said such reunions are rare, as many patients are unable to travel back after treatment, but they have a profound impact on medical teams.

“When you are amidst all of this, and you have a story like this that just comes back, it brightens the whole team,” Dr Wadhwa said.

“Even the team’s morale, especially with nurses in the ICU, they’re seeing very sick patients every day; for them, they don't even know what’s going to be that person’s outcome.”

Mr Wood’s ordeal began in July 2021 during what was meant to be a celebratory trip. He and his wife, Raemie, had travelled from Southern California to mark their 10th wedding anniversary.

The couple, frequent visitors to the Caribbean, were on the fourth day of their trip when Mr Wood developed a headache and experienced difficulty breathing ahead of a planned scuba dive. Although he initially stayed on the boat, he entered the water about 45 minutes later.

Soon after returning to shore, his condition worsened.

“We ended up getting back on the boat and heading back into a taxi,” he said. “We got back to the hotel room and I have no memory from that point forward.”

Raemie, also a police officer, quickly realised something was wrong.

“I actually laid down and I could hear him trying to get out of the room,” she said. “He was struggling with the door. By then, it was already happening. When I asked him, ‘Hey, what's going on with you?’ He was slurring his speech.”

“I said, ‘Hey, come lay down with me, back next to me. You know you're scaring me.’ When I saw him stand up to try to walk to the bathroom, he could not walk straight. I realized he'd been throwing up.”

She called for an ambulance, gathered essentials, and contacted a doctor friend while waiting in the hospital hallway as he underwent a CT scan.

“There was no time to cry about stuff,” she said. “I just kind of broke down in the hallway of the emergency room and made phone calls.”

Doctors confirmed a significant brain bleed affecting nearly a quarter of his brain. He arrived at hospital around 2am with weakness on his right side, an inability to speak, and a declining level of consciousness.

Dr Wadhwa said his Glasgow Coma Scale score had dropped to about ten and was worsening.

The bleed was on the left side of the brain, the dominant side responsible for key functions in a right-handed person.

The case was further complicated by Mr Wood’s medical history. He had undergone a heart ablation in 2019 and was taking aspirin, increasing the risk of bleeding during surgery. He had also tested positive for COVID-19.

His first operation lasted about four hours, though the full process stretched to seven or eight hours.

In the days that followed, his condition slowly improved, but his memory did not return.

Dr Wadhwa explained that the brain cannot form memories properly when it is not functioning, leaving Mr Wood with little recollection of that critical period.

When he regained consciousness, his first concern was not himself.

“Are you okay?” he asked his wife. “I was worried about her”.

He later underwent a second, shorter operation and spent two weeks in hospital before being transferred to Florida for rehabilitation.

Recovery was slow and disorienting. Mr Wood struggled with speech and mobility, while Raemie noted ongoing balance issues that may have been linked to vision loss, as he cannot see below chest level.

She recalled the emotional toll of watching a highly capable professional relearn basic skills.

Part of his skull was temporarily removed during treatment and stored in his abdomen before being reattached months later in November.

Today, Mr Wood says he is grateful to be alive but acknowledges that life has changed permanently.

“I walk with a cane because I can't see,” he said. “I've tripped on things so the cane has to help me not trip and fall and things like that, so it's just a complete change.”

Raemie has since retired to support his recovery, marking a new chapter shaped by survival, adjustment, and the enduring impact of a moment that nearly took his life.