The Swan family made headlines last year when 15-year-old Portia became the youngest New Zealander ever to undergo an awake craniotomy - a complex brain surgery in which the patient stays conscious and talking for part of the time. Now, Auckland parents Matt and Penny have opened up about their nightmarish journey, how they stay strong and their love for their remarkable daughter. It began in September 2022 on what seemed like a normal night.
Matt, 54, Penny, 49, and their daughters - Sophie, 34, Lourdes, 24, Della, 22, Samantha, 19, and Portia - were sitting down for dinner. Then it happened. “Portia’s face went bright red and she froze,” Penny recalls.
“At first, I thought she was playing statue or something,” Matt says. “Then the next moment, it was like a bird perched on top of a fence that just dropped.” Portia had never had medical issues before.
Now she was on the floor, stiff and convulsing, in the grips of a seizure. “It was an incredible shock,” Penny continues. “The whole house went into turmoil.
” Doctors at North Shore Hospital examined Portia then sent her home, blaming a recent gastro bug. A week later, she had two more seizures. This time, the hospital did a CT scan, which Penny remembers as “the first stab in the heart”.
She explains, “The guy came out afterwards and we just knew from the look on his face. He was so solemn. He said, ‘You need to go to Starship [Children’s Hospital].
’” Further testing revealed Portia had a 3..
