Influencer who had surgery for brain aneurysm while giving birth via C-section two years ago still hasn't held daughter

Immediately after her baby daughter was born she was placed in a medically induced coma. She was in the coma for three weeks and, after she woke up, she had almost a year of rehabilitation. Doctors thought she wouldn’t ever walk or talk again, but she defied expectations and did both.

The social media star, now aged 38, is living with expressive aphasia - a condition that makes it difficult to communicate, according to the NHS. It can make it hard to speak, read, write and understand others. It's often caused by a stroke or brain injury. There's no cure, but people usually improve with treatment.

Originally, doctors warned family that Jackie and Knoxly would not survive - but they both lived. Baby Knoxly Rose also had to spend time in hospital, however. She was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for the first 12 days of her life. But, then she was taken home byJackie’s husband Austin James. Today, Knoxly is about to turn two and Jackie is continuing to recover.

She has regained more functionality than medics ever expected - but heartbreakingly she still hasn’t been able to hold her young daughter. This is because she’s still unable to move her right arm or hand. Her brain remains stunted by expressive aphasia, making every act of communication difficult for her.

Austin told People: “Mentally, I think she knows exactly what she wants to say. It's just the motor skills to get that out.” He also spoke of his wife’s long road to recovery. "She couldn't swallow when she woke up . . . when we saw her sit up for the first time, we were ecstatic. And we saw her stand up for the first time, we were ecstatic. She was in a wheelchair for a long time, and then she walked for the first time and we were ecstatic. So there's been these incredible milestones, things you take for granted."

Jackie has also learned to do some remarkable things to look after Knoxly. With the help of an occupational therapist, for example, she learned how to change her daughter’s nappy with one hand.

The star also does as much for Knoxly as she possibly can. With only one fully functional side of her body and trouble articulating thoughts. She sits beside her daughter and entertains her while Austin gets her food ready, for example.

"She's fully engaged, she's a fantastic mother," Austin said. "She's never been able to pick up her child. She's never been able to give her a hug. I think that, if I'm being honest, is what motivates her to push forward." Jackie said: "I mean, baby is healthy. And I'm finding that baby is also the best thing possibly ever."

Jackie also told People that motherhood is still everything she hoped for. She said she loves seeing Knoxly. Austin said he has loved watching them bond, and that he notices overlaps between Knoxly's development and Jackie's brain recovery. "Kids are sponges. They just pick up everything. So in Jackie's development of her speech, there's a couple of phrases that she says a lot, and we're seeing the child pick those up, which is cute," he said.

"She'll tell her mum to be careful on the stairs, and she'll hold Jackie's hand if she walks. At night when we sit down to read a book, I'm actually reading it to both of them.”

Back in May 2023, Austin, now aged 41, found his pregnant wife after she collapsed at home due to a hemorrhagic stroke. Jackie was rushed to hospital, where doctors performed two critical operations. On May 19 2023, she underwent an emergency C-section to deliver Knoxly and simultaneous brain surgery to address the severe bleeding caused by the aneurysm.

Jackie underwent several more operations on her brain and was placed in a medically induced coma in the intensive care unit. For three weeks, she was in a medically induced coma. After she woke she spent the following 119 days in hospital working with physical therapists to learn to walk and talk again. In March 2024, Jackie was finally allowed to return home, where she now continues her recovery.

She and her family continue to post on her Instagram page about her recovery. In the bio, she wrote: “Recovering in style.”