Believe it or not, almost everyone knows someone who has been affected by brain aneurysm. While this might not be the most cheery of subjects, She’s The Day thinks it’s important to educate as many people as possible to save lives, so bear with it and know there are happy endings!
Facts and Details
Every 18 minutes, someone in the U.S. experiences a ruptured brain aneurysm. Half of those people die and the other half experience a hellish recovery.
Janet Sutherland-Madden, a Chicago-area native, and former radio reporter and personality, is one who experienced a rupture, but survived. Sutherland-Madden’s memoir Nose Over Toes (2018, Eckhartz Press, Chicago, IL, and available on Amazon) documents her experience, the interruption to a bright career in broadcasting and a brave recovery. It also brings some shocking aneurysm facts to the surface, in an effort she hopes will help others.
Photo Credit: Karen Kring
Brain Aneurysm Is Scary, But Common!
One in 50 people are walking around right now with an undiagnosed brain aneurysm, most with zero symptoms. And worse, thirty thousand people per year in the USA experience a ruptured brain aneurysm.
Catching a brain aneurysm before it ruptures—which dramatically lessons and prevents damage to the brain—is rare. Most cerebral aneurysms go unnoticed until they rupture or are detected during medical imaging tests for some other, often unrelated, condition, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Carrie, another Illinois resident, is one of the lucky ones. After experiencing subtle symptoms over the course of a year, she was finally diagnosed, almost by accident.
Symptoms/No Symptoms
While some people have no symptoms, some with symptoms often go undiagnosed. Carrie’s symptoms included fatigue, neck pain, dull—not sharp—headaches, a metallic taste in her mouth, weight loss, balance problems and finally a tremor in her left hand and nausea.
Because of the nausea, an obstetrician who was a friend of the family put her in the hospital and ordered some tests.
Getting a Diagnoses Can Be a Challenge
Carrie had been to several doctors over the course of a year concerned about her symptoms, but the doctors shrugged it off or prescribed medications without much rationale as to why, she said. And none of the supposed “solutions” to her symptoms made any difference.
Finally, after the obstetrician’s tests came back, a neurologist on call by accident saw the results and recognized a brain aneurysm. Carrie said she was relieved to finally know there was something wrong with her and that she wasn’t imagining it, like some of the doctors from whom she sought help seemed to suggest.
Leading Edge Treatments Saved Carrie
Carrie’s non-invasive treatment was provided by Dr. Demetrius Lopes, M.D., one of the most noted endovascular neurosurgeons in the USA at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. He took Carrie on, conducted a procedure that involves threading a catheter through blood vessels from the groin to the brain, where he was able to fix the problem. Carrie was fully recovered within about two and half months.
I feel very lucky that I’m 100 percent normal again.
Carrie, brain aneurysm survivor
Carrie said, “I thought I’d never be normal again. I was in pain. I was sick. I was losing weight. Food tasted terrible. Coffee tasted terrible. So did wine!” she laughed, “Finally, after the procedure, gradually things began to improve. Little by little food started tasting good again. The last thing to taste good was coffee. I feel very lucky that I’m 100 percent normal again.”
Sutherland-Madden Wasn’t As Lucky
Sutherland-Madden wasn’t as lucky as Carrie. Her story, however, is one that will have you crying, but also laughing through tears, as you enjoy her unique and compelling sense of humor and candid storytelling.
Unable to tell her own story completely by herself due to being comatose for the first three weeks after her brain aneurysm ruptured and threatened her life, Sutherland-Madden’s book relies on meticulous notes that were kept by her father during an arduous recovery. She also credits her mother, Marie Sutherland, who moved from Illinois to Columbus, Ohio, where Sutherland-Madden was living when the incident occurred, to provide care and aid in her daughter’s recovery for 18 months.
Long, Slow Recovery
Sutherland-Madden tells her story with humor and grace in Nose Over Toes. Her recovery, unlike Carrie’s took nearly a decade due to the serious nature of the rupture and the damage it did. Sutherland-Madden experienced blindness, the inability walk or remember, and the struggle to learn almost everything, including how to feed herself, all over again.
Through willpower, determination and the steadfast love of her family—and some beloved Corgi rescue dogs (you have to get the book)—Sutherland-Madden has made a full recovery.
Not to spoil it, but her story has a bittersweet ending that involves walking on her father’s arm down a certain aisle and a furry friend, undoubtedly her “PET.”
But… you should get the book to find out and to experience the rush of emotion her story brings. In the process you will learn a lot about brain aneurysm and possibly save someone!
Coda
What isn’t in the book, is that Sutherland-Madden’s beloved parents, Marie and Donald Sutherland, have both passed away now. Sutherland-Madden stayed with her mom during a brief illness every day and night until she died. “My mom stayed by my side for 18 months and I wanted to stay by hers too,” said Sutherland-Madden.
Marie Sutherland was 89 and had a beautiful service that was well attended by many friends and relatives as well as people from the many causes she supported. But nearest to her heart was the Brain Aneurysm Foundation (BAF), a cause also avidly supported by her daughter and son-in-law.
In fact, proceeds from the sale of Nose Over Toes go toward raising awareness and will hopefully save lives. Sutherland-Madden said, “People and their families who experience brain aneurysm need to be patient and know they’re not alone.”
Sutherland-Madden is also actively meeting with state and federal legislators to support bills that bring awareness and research to brain aneurysm. She also has started support groups at several hospitals in the Chicago area and beyond to help other patients and their families cope with the stress and rigors of recovery.
In addition, Sutherland-Madden sponsors an annual 2K BAF Walk which attracts people far and wide with all proceeds benefitting the Brain Aneurysm Foundation.
Buy Nose Over Toes here to support BAF and visit BAFound.org to learn more and/or register for the next 2K BAF Walk or find a support group.
