Mother shares how she recovered from horrific medical emergency that’s almost always fatal
A mother of three made a miraculous recovery after a near-fatal ruptured brain aneurysm caused significant health complications when she woke from a coma.
Julianne Smith, then 38 years old, suddenly collapsed on her kitchen floor in January.
Her 10-year-old daughter quickly called her father, who then called 911, and had Julianne rushed to a nearby hospital.
“So I show up and Julianne says, ‘I just don’t feel well. I’m really dizzy.’ And then she puts her hand on her head and lets out a horrible scream,” Mike Smith said ABC’s Good Morning America.
He also told the Cleveland Clinic that when his daughter called him, he could hear Julianne waking up and her speech slurred.
Julianne Smith, a mother of three, suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm that changed her life
Julianne underwent extensive rehabilitation and made a recovery that overwhelmed doctors and family members
From the first hospital, she was airlifted to the Cleveland Clinic’s main location in Cleveland, Ohio.
“She was on the brink of death,” said Dr. Nina Moore, a neurosurgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, told ABC.
Only about 30,000 American patients experience a brain aneurysm rupture each year.
A brain aneurysm is a bulge or bulging blood vessel. It can cause leaks and bleeding in the brain, which can be life-threatening.
“The fact that I’m here at all is an absolute miracle,” Julianne told ABC.
Symptoms of a ruptured aneurysm include sudden, severe headaches, nausea and vomiting, a stiff neck, blurred or double vision, sensitivity to light, seizures, and loss of consciousness.
Julianne’s daughter found her on the ground and took action to get her mother medical treatment
An unruptured aneurysm may have no symptoms and may not require treatment.
The severe type of fracture that Julianne experienced has a survival rate of only 10 percent, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
But the resilient mother defied the odds and battled through a grueling recovery period.
‘We were actually surprised. She followed orders, she talked, as if she were communicating with her family. It was… truly miraculous,” Moore told ABC.
When she was admitted to the hospital, she underwent several emergency surgeries. Surgeons had to drain excess fluid from her brain.
The mother underwent several emergency operations to save her life and was in a coma for about two weeks
Another procedure was intended to prevent the aneurysm from rupturing again.
Julianne’s brain was so swollen that they eventually had to remove part of her skull.
She developed vasospasm: when blood from the rupture irritates surrounding blood vessels.
About 50 to 90 percent of patients with aneurysm rupture experience vasospasm, which can lead to strokes. So surgeons performed another risky operation to prevent one.
After being in a medically induced coma for about two weeks, Julianne woke up in shock.
Julianne told the Cleveland Clinic: ‘I look at the neurosurgeon and I think, “How did this happen to me?”
“I take pretty good care of myself, and I didn’t personally know anyone who had an aneurysm.”
Julianne said she is happy to be able to do the things she loves, such as traveling and volunteering
She couldn’t move the left side of her body and could barely utter words, but after intensive rehabilitation, Julianne was able to walk, drive, volunteer at her church and travel.
Julianne was able to go home on Valentine’s Day and continue her treatment. Just nine months later, doctors are excited about her progress.
“Knowing what I know now about the severity of my fracture, I am so grateful to even be here,” she added. ‘I remember telling one of the therapists that I have a lot to live for. I was so determined to get better.”
Moore told ABC: “To see her doing so well so quickly brings us all great joy.”