My Career: Health scare leads to new role

Caity Vidot was a fit and healthy teenager with zero health worries when one night she was hanging out with a friend and suddenly went quiet.

She then had multiple seizures and started acting “like she was drunk”.

The 19 year-old had experienced a ruptured brain aneurysm.

Caity has little recollection of what happened but was taken to Bendigo Hospital where they scanned her head.

It was filled with blood and she was rushed to hospital in Melbourne.

Following the brain aneurysm she had multiple strokes becoming paralysed and non-verbal for a week.

“It was really out of nowhere that it happened,” Caity said

“They said I would die, be disabled or make a full recovery.”

Luckily, she came out of it physically ok, although she still feels numbness on her right side.

But the former hospitality worker was told not to work for six months and started having weekly speech therapy as she began mixing up words.

During this time, she was spending lots of time at home and started chatting with family members who had started working in disability.

“They told me a lot of information and how I could get into it,” Caity said.

“At the time I still wasn’t allowed to drive and I thought I may as well do a course.”

This was during COVID-19 lockdowns so all her Cert IV studies in Disability were completed online.

“It worked out perfectly, as I could do it on the computer. I did that for nine months and after that I got a job in disability.”

Having experienced such a serious health issue herself, Caity said she had learnt what it felt like to be in need of support.

“I have that empathy and it made me want to help other people with moral support and physical support.”

“It’s been a big change and it’s been great so far: I like that you are matched with clients who you work well with.

“You form a friendship and it honestly doesn’t feel like you’re working.”

Caity has now been working in disability for more than four years and says the flexibility and diversity of the role was a big plus.

When she’s not juggling shifts for InLife, including with a client who has also experienced stroke, Caity is also studying to become a personal trainer.