24-year-old woman defies chances of surviving brain aneurysm

A woman challenged any chance of surviving a cerebral aneurysm that caused her a stroke and gave her the impression that her head was going to explode at the age of 15.

Chloe Gallagher, age 24, was rushed to the hospital when she suddenly lost her sight and was hit with excruciating head pain while she was watching TV at home .

A computed tomography scan showed that Miss Gallagher's brain was "filled with blood" after the bursting of an inflated blood vessel, causing a potentially fatal stroke.

In emergency surgery, doctors had to cut out a portion of Miss Gallagher 's skull the size of a palm to be able to operate before putting her in a coma to help her recover.

His family, from Ontario, Canada, was told to wait for the worst. If she survived, she would face severe disabilities.

But described as a "miracle patient," Miss Gallagher, who is now a medical student, has managed to survive without too many complications, despite the development of epilepsy.

Miss Gallagher said, "Before I was operated on and went into a coma, the doctors told my parents to wait for the worst.

"It was likely that I would not succeed, and if I did, I could be a very different person and have major disabilities."

In June 2010, Miss Gallagher suddenly had the impression that her head was going to explode – a sudden sign that a cerebral aneurysm had broken down, causing a type of cerebrovascular accident.

While she was trying to get out of bed to go to the kitchen, she fell and realized that she could not walk.

She crawled into the room until the kitchen, confused and terrified, and managed to call her father, whose name is unknown.

Miss Gallagher said, "I came home from school that day, did my homework, watched TV in my parents' room, and phoned friends over the phone.

"Suddenly, the TV screen and the screen of my mobile phone were blurry and my head gave me the impression that she was going to explode. He literally felt it was going to explode.

"I can not even describe the pain I felt that day. I got up to go on the phone in the kitchen because I could not see the screen on my phone, but when I got up from the bed, I fell down. It was then that I realized that I could not walk.

"I realized that something was really not going well. Crawling down the hallway to the kitchen, I was trying to figure out what could be going on.

On her way to her, her father called her brother, Dru, who was nearby. When Dru arrived, he saw Miss Gallagher curl up on the kitchen floor, screaming in pain.

Miss Gallagher said, "I do not know at all how, it had to be a muscle memory, but I dialed my father's phone number. I did not know it but at that moment I was screaming.

"From there, I do not remember seeing anything, but I remember hearing it." [Dru] entering the door and rushing towards me.

"Shortly after, I remember hearing my father enter the room and they made the decision to take me to the hospital. That's the last thing I can remember.

In the hospital emergency room, the doctor immediately recognized that it was a rupture of cerebral aneurysm and a computed tomography showed that his brain was "full of blood".

It is difficult to know exactly how many people are affected by a cerebral aneurysm because they usually do not cause any symptoms and go unnoticed.

This figure could reach one in 20, while other experts estimate that this figure is much lower, at around one in 100 people, according to the NHS.

The number of cerebral aneurysms – more common in people over 40 – that break is much smaller. Every year, about one year out of about 12,500 people have a ruptured brain aneurysm in England.

In the United States, about one in 50 people suffer from a cerebral aneurysm and about 30,000 people experience an annual ruptured brain aneurysm, according to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation.

Since she was only 15 at the time, Ms. Gallagher was referred to the McMaster Children's Hospital by an ambulance, where she then performed the emergency craniotomy to relieve the swelling of her brain.

The operation took away a bone flap in the brain, which his doctor said was about the size of his hand, and then put in a three-day coma.

Before being placed in a coma, her doctors told her parents to wait for the worst and she was very likely not to get there. Even if she did, she would face severe disabilities.

About three out of five people who have meningeal hemorrhage, a stroke caused by bleeding brain, die within two weeks, according to the NHS. Half of those who survive suffer from severe brain damage and a disability.

Miss Gallagher was successful and on waking she was surrounded by her family who was crying with happiness.

She said: "When I woke up from a coma, I was surrounded by doctors, nurses and family members and I saw only tears of joy on the face of all the world, but I did not understand why.

"Once they told me what had happened, I just cried and shook my family in the arms." I then immediately started asking questions. Why? Did I do something to cause this? What is it now? & # 39;

"I had very bad awakening after coma, I had a double vision and I had my eyes crossed. Double vision has disappeared, the left side has slightly improved, but to this day, I still have a peripheral vision loss. & # 39;

As a result of this aneurysm, Miss Gallagher has developed epilepsy and has suffered 10 to 15 epileptic seizures over the years.

She has since undergone other surgeries, such as a new lifting of the bone flap in the skull due to an infection.

Miss Gallagher is currently recovering from her last surgery on April 4, 2019 at the University Hospital in London, Ontario.

She said, "Honestly, looking back, every time I thought I had gone through the hard part, something else was going on that would replace it.

"Whenever I thought it was over, something new was happening. a complication, infection, surgery, seizure, stopping the school.