I am the daughter of a mom that lost her life to a ruptured aneurysm when I was only 16 – my mother was only 36. Then, on December 18th, 2015, my 15 year-old daughter was walking to school and collapsed, went unconscious and woke up vomiting. She called me as I was on my way to work and she was unsure about what happened, telling me she fell. I could hear her words slightly slurred and I heard sirens in the background. I asked if those were for her and she said “Yeah I think so, they are turning to me.” I said stay on the phone and give it to them when they get to you, she handed the phone to a paramedic, I said “She passed out and woke up vomiting, I don’t know who called you.” He said “We got a call from a bystander that saw she had collapsed.”

I asked him to take her to the local hospital and that I was on my way there. I drove like never before. I arrived before she had, running to every ambulance that pulled in asking for the 15 year-old and began crying in panic by the third one. A paramedic in the parking lot called looking for her and told me she’d be pulling up, and there they were. I ran to the ambulance. They opened the doors and I saw her, curled up crying in pain. In the blink of an eye we were inside. She said “My head hurts, it hurts so bad”.

As I turned to find a doctor she had just walked in. I told her, “My daughter has a ruptured brain aneurysm, my mom died of one and this is exactly what she looked like!” My heart sank I knew what this was. I had seen it all before. The doctor ordered a CT scan and then it all changed. Indeed, she had a rupture, a massive one.

They were trying to get us to a treating hospital. She suffered one more rupture and a seizure before we were airlifted out. I rode with her and it took about eight minutes. The neurosurgeon came in just a minute later to explain his plans to coil her aneurysm and insert drains to get the blood out.

It was a total of about 2 months in the hospital.I saw the care that was given to her while in the ICU floor and saw how much a child can affect people. I lived with these people for weeks watching them give their all to save my child. Love is not bound by blood it is shared by all.

My daughter suffered a case of meningitis, two blood clots MRSA and vasospasms that required an angioplasty. That led them to recoiling only three days later because the aneurysm had actually grown in that short amount of time. We also spent weeks at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles in their rehab floor receiving therapies six times a day for 6-8 hours each day.

She went back to school upon her release part-time. Then, only two months after being home with her, I suffered an aneurysm rupture myself – coiled and stented by the same neurosurgeon.

My daughter just completed her junior year of high school. She enjoys hanging out with her sisters, friends and family and also recently joined a poetry club. Although she has some cognitive impairments, she stays positive and hopeful!

The story above was written by Reena Bayardo about her daughter Lisset. The Joe Niekro Foundation wants to thank Reena and Lisset for sharing their incredible story with us. We are amazed by such a strong family and we wish you all continued health!