Tim and Allison Rafferty with their twins, Louie and Ben

In October 2019, 36-year-old Tim Rafferty was in the middle of a workout at the gym when he suddenly became dizzy and disoriented. “I could feel my face sagging, and soon after I became paralyzed on the left side of my body,” he recalled.

Rafferty would later find out he was experiencing a hemorrhagic stroke, which occurs when a blood vessel in the brain bursts and causes uncontrolled bleeding. Hemorrhagic strokes require immediate medical attention to avoid permanent brain damage or death.

Rafferty was rushed to BWH, where he spent several days under the expert care of the Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center team.

“Those initial 48 hours in the intensive care unit were scary. I thought about what my life might look like, and I didn’t see a very pretty picture,” he acknowledged. “But the Brigham doctors, nurses and staff gave me the lift I needed to tackle the uphill battle of regaining my independence. It’s hard to imagine where I’d be today without the love of such an incredible institution.”

Within days, Rafferty regained some movement on his left side and eventually could walk with a cane. But there was much more work to do. His journey to recovery would continue at Spaulding Rehabilitation, where he received both inpatient and outpatient treatment.

Life after a successful rehab at Spaulding

Rafferty’s hard work and positive attitude in rehab paid off. After a full year of treatment at Spaulding, he resumed the active lifestyle he had enjoyed before the stroke.

“My life was not only restored to where it was before my stroke, but it exceeded that place,” he said. “I had more compassion and more desire to help others on their journeys of recovery.”

Within a year, Rafferty had married his wife, Allison, the woman who was with him through the stroke and his recovery and ran the 2021 Boston Marathon for Spaulding’s Race for Rehab team.

When Allison became pregnant in 2022, Rafferty found himself back at the Brigham under happier circumstances. However, the couple had a moment of panic when, during their first obstetrics appointment, the ultrasound technician got very quiet. “Do you see a baby?” Allison asked nervously. The tech responded, “No, I see two!”

For most couples, the news that they’re expecting twins is soon followed by a mix of excitement and worry. But for the Raffertys, the Brigham had offered hope and healing during a terrifying experience just a few years earlier. They knew they were in good hands.

“After everything we had been through, we felt very confident in the Brigham,” Rafferty said. “It was our home, in a sense.”

From stroke survivor to dad of twin boys

“I am overcome with a feeling of love for my boys and my wife that just gets better and better every day,” Rafferty says.

Throughout her twin pregnancy, Allison was carefully followed by Carolina Bibbo, MD, director of the Comprehensive Care Center for Multiples, and they were aware there was a chance their babies would arrive prematurely.

“Even though we knew the twins may come quite a bit early, we felt prepared and comfortable with however that was going to play out,” Rafferty said.

In her second trimester, Allison underwent a cervical cerclage — a temporary stitch in the uterus to prevent preterm birth — to keep her babies safe inside her body as long as possible. And as soon as the twins reached 37 weeks, she was induced. “By that point, I wasn’t comfortable sitting, lying down or standing,” she remembered. “I was ready to go!”

Almost three years to the day after Rafferty’s stroke, the twins were born in November 2022. Louie arrived first at 6 pounds, 5 ounces, followed by Ben, at 7 pounds, 1 ounce. “To be there for the birth of our boys was an experience that I’ll never forget,” Rafferty said.

When Ben began having difficulty breathing, he was transported to the Brigham’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit for specialized, multidisciplinary care and support.

“I was bouncing from Louie to Ben to Allison,” Rafferty recalled. “For such a high-stress situation, I felt so much peace of mind knowing how knowledgeable all the teams were. I could feel their confidence, which was very soothing. I remember thinking, ‘OK, no matter what we’re facing here, they’re going to take care of it.’”

Within a week of the twins’ birth, the family was all healthy and back home, ready to start their adventure as a family of four. Louie and Ben, now 19 months, have been growing and delighting their parents ever since. “Their personalities are so different,” said Allison. “Ben is our cuddly little teddy bear who loves books, and Louie is more of an extrovert who loves to climb on everything and be flipped upside down.”

Rafferty, who acknowledged he was originally unsure about parenthood, now says that being a father is the best job he’s ever had. “I am overcome with a feeling of love for my boys and my wife that just gets better and better every day,” he said. “Our twins are the best thing that ever happened to us, and they continue to light our life.”

For Allison, Louie and Ben’s birth has been healing. “As great of an outcome as Tim had after his stroke, I was still harboring a lot of really scary memories,” she said. “Being back at the Brigham to celebrate something so beautiful as the birth of our sons was an opportunity to rewrite those memories.”