I watched my boyfriend have a stroke on Zoom from the other side of the world – and I couldn’t even call 999
A WOMAN was forced to watch helplessly on Zoom as her boyfriend had a stroke on the other side of the world - and couldn't even call 999.
Stefanie Harbeson, 35, had been enjoying a video call with her now-fiancé Jon Hill, 37, when things took a sinister turn.
The loved-up pair, who are in a long-distance relationship, had been catching up from across the Atlantic and were discussing their next trip via video call.
But as Stefanie, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was chatting away, she noticed John suddenly get "a dazed look on his face".
Jon, from Gloucester, told the : "I just felt funny. I noticed my arm was weak and I was slurring."
Stefanie then horrifically realised Jon's incoherent speech was the sign of a deadly stroke - but was unable to do anything to help as she wasn't in the UK.
She recalled: "I thought I was watching the love of my life die on the other side of a screen and was powerless to do anything about it.
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"I tried to stay calm and, as Jon called 999, I phoned his parents, who thankfully were only 15 minutes away."
Jon insisted on leaving his office to open the front door for the ambulance crew - but stood up and "suddenly fell out of view",
Distraught Stefanie described hearing "numerous thuds, a yell and then silence" and believed the robotics engineer had fallen down the stairs.
The 35-year-old continued: "I thought that I’d lost him before we even got to begin our life together."
As she faced the agonising wait for Jon's parents and the ambulance to reach him, she said she put herself on mute and "broke down",
After Jon was rushed to hospital, medics were concerned he wouldn't make it through the night - leaving his horrified fiancée praying for him to pull through.
But two days later, the long-distance lovers were back on Zoom after Jon's condition had stabilised.
Stefanie said: "Seeing him on screen I was hit by both huge relief and terror. He was alive, but still in critical care.
"All he kept saying was, ‘I love you so much.’ He doesn’t remember that call but I don’t think I’ll ever forget it."
While in recovery, Jon decided to seize the moment and decided to propose from his hospital bed.
He posted the ring, which he had already bought before his illness, to Pittsburgh and told his partner not to open the package without him.
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Ten days later, in another unforgettable Zoom call, he asked her to marry him - and she said yes.
As Jon continues on his road to recovery after being discharged from hospital, he looks to Stefanie as "his motivation to get better."