Story
Katerina Vrana is a Greek stand up comic based in London performing sell out shows around the world. In December 2016 she was a finalist in Laugh Factory's international stand up competition "the funniest person in the world" and as she made the top 3 in the competition she was invited out to Malaysia to perform in April 2017.
Whilst in Malaysia, she came down with what she thought was food poisoning. It was much more serious than that. Katerina suffered an intestinal perferation which led to sceptesmia and sceptic shock.
She was in a critical condition and spent 2 months in the intensive care unit in Malaysia. Her family flew out to be with her as in some stages it was really touch and go. There were actually 3 separate occasions when she nearly lost her life.
Katerina was paralyzed from the neck down and went blind, however her great sense of humour and her ridiculously amazing hair remained unaffected.
The following year Katerina also developed problems with her speech, which has made it difficult for her to speak clearly.
She has spent the last 2 years being repeatedly hospitalized in the UK and in Greece for specialist care and advice. She now needs full time care and intensive daily physio. She has 2 nurses and has had to move back in with her parents. She is receiving treatment and advice from around the world and has just returned from spending a month in a specialist neurological rehab clinic in Switzerland, not the cheapest country in the world. The clinic helped Katerina with alot of her needs such as speech therapy, physio therapy, balance support, eyesight and fine motor skills.
Katerina can now stand and walk with assistance. Her sight and speech are getting stronger every day. The doctors cannot believe that she is alive and making such good progress.
In the midst of all this fun, she has been able to get on stage, in a wheelchair, in her native Greece, and perform to sell out audiences, in her unique and hilarious and phenomenally brilliant way, sharing her story of what happened. These shows just about cover her day to day care expenses, as unfortunately her medical insurance does not cover long term rehabilitation.
This woman is the future of comedy and a phenomenal inspiration to anyone who has wanted to follow the career they love. She put blood, sweat and tears into comedy (in her case quite literally) and it was just starting to pay off.
Let's help get her back to where she belongs. On stage, killing it. She nearly died!! 3 times!!