Four North Carolina children are devastated after the sudden loss of their mother, who died unexpectedly after complaining about what she thought was a severe headache, but that turned out to be a brain aneurysm.
Lee Broadway, 41, was a North Carolina mother of four who had complained of a severe migraine. But little did she know this migraine wasn’t an ordinary headache.
After being rushed to the hospital they were shocked to find out that the pain she was feeling was actually something more serious. She was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm, which is an abnormal weak spot on a blood vessel. If left untreated, it can rupture and cause a hemorrhage which can lead to death.
Lee later died from complications of surgery to remove the brain aneurysm.
Broadway who died April 3, just days before her 42nd birthday had a history of migraines so the family wasn’t alarmed when she suddenly developed migraine again the last time she had one.
“We never once thought we’d never see her again, you know?” Her husband, Eric Broadway said.
In addition to her husband, who was her high school sweetheart, Broadway leaves behind her four children ages 8, 10, 14, and 22.
“She was sweet and kind and she always was there for me,”her son Adrien said.
From AWM:
Doctors are urging patients to seek attention if they have the following warning signs:
- Seizures
- Blurred or double-vision
- A painful headache like you’ve never had before
- Over-sensitivity to light that can come on suddenly
- An instant stiff neck
- Constant feeling of nausea and the urge to vomit
- Drooping eyelids
- Losing consciousness
- Feeling numb in the face
- A stabbing pain above or behind a single eye
- Hearing noises that are similar to gunshots or explosions
While it can be hard to determine whether you are simply having a migraine, these added symptoms should be a sign to get immediate help. The result of a ruptured brain aneurysm is an extreme headache that can be felt immediately, which was the case with Lee. Unfortunately, for someone who has migraines frequently, this pain can be quite familiar and hard to detect.
A brain aneurysm is a bulging, weak area in the wall of an artery that supplies blood to the brain. In several cases, a brain aneurysm doesn’t produce symptoms that go noticed and in rare cases an aneurysm releases blood in the skull, causing a stroke.
The result of a ruptured aneurysm is a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which can lead to brain damage or death if it’s severe enough.
An estimated 500,000 people globally die each year from brain aneurysms and half of the victims are younger than 50. An estimated 1 in 50 people in the United States will develop a brain aneurysm during their lifetime.
Source: AWM
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