County native beats traumatic brain injury odds | County Life … – YourGV.com

I am a survivor of a brainstem aneurysm rupture and brain bleed.

On a Sunday morning this past November, suddenly I felt a pop in my ears.

The fire-like pain ascended from my chin across my face and down my spine to the soles of my feet.

Next, I felt the worst headache I had ever had.Tylenol did not alleviate the headache.

With over two decades of experience in health care, I recognized the nature and seriousness of my symptoms.

I used an app on my smartphone to video-call my dear friend, a physician, to let her know what I suspected.

I was driven to a nearby ER and then airlifted, within an hour, to a top neurosurgery center at Johns Hopkins.

Tests confirmed the brainstem bleed that was caused by the rupture.

Two successful brain surgeries later, I am managing occupational, physical and speech therapy, and I am able to walk, talk, hear, see and write.

As I continue to follow my neuro-rehabilitation program, it appears that I will be able to live independently, drive and return to work.

According to data provided by the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, one in 50, or 6 million in the U.S. have un-ruptured aneurysms, with 30,000 of those experiencing rupture every year.

There is a brain aneurysm rupturing every 18 minutes.

Ruptured brain aneurysms are fatal in about 40 percent of all cases. Of those 60 percent who survive, about 66 percent suffer some permanent neurological deficit.

Approximately 15 percent of patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) die before reaching the hospital.

I beat every single one of those odds.

My quick action as I recognized the warning signs of my rupture and my proximity to top neurosurgeons gave me a better outcome than most patients with aneurysm rupture.

Many un-ruptured aneurysms can go undetected.

While in hospital after the hemorrhagic stroke resulting from my rupture, further tests confirmed there were two more aneurysms behind my eye.

My second surgery was to address them.

The risk factors for aneurysms include high blood pressure, smoking, a family history and genetic disorders.

The occurrence is 50 percent higher in women than in men (3:2 ratio), and African Americans experience aneurysms at twice the rate of Caucasians.

For Latinos, the rate is just over 1 times the rate of Caucasians.

My risk factors are age, ethnicity and gender.

Like other survivors of traumatic health challenges, I am left with significant hurdles to address.

Social workers (case managers) admitted there was little help for me in their tool kit which was largely geared toward helping families of patients who did not survive or patients who are now significantly disabled and headed to assisted living/skilled care facilities.

I have several more months of therapy ahead of me.

I lost the resources to pay for disability insurance, catastrophic or supplemental insurance that would have provided me with some financial relief while I am still unable to work.

Without the expected safety net, so far I have been dependent upon my own resources and the goodwill of others, who have initiated a fund on GoFundMe.com to assist with my increased living expenses.

Im fortunate to have built my net with the help of great friends, colleagues and close and extended family.

I share my story with others to bring awareness to the risk factors, the need for preventive care and to bring awareness to the very real support gap that exists for me and other people.

And remember, please do not ignore a headache or double vision.

For more information about brain aneurysms, visit the Brain Aneurysm Foundation website, http://www.bafound.org.

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County native beats traumatic brain injury odds | County Life ... - YourGV.com