A 41-year-old mother of four tragically died earlier this month after experiencing serious headaches.
The mother, Lee Broadway told her husband, Eric, of her headache problems while he was on his way home from work.
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“She said ‘I have the worst headache of my life,” Broadway, 43, told TODAY. “She lost feeling in her left leg and she fell.”
They checked into an emergency room at the local hospital, and was sent to specialized neurological care.
A nurse informed Eric that his wife had a broken blood vessel in her brain.
While the transfer to the hospital went well, Lee’s condition didn’t improve.
“Lee is in serious pain. All she is doing is begging for them to take away her pain. It is hard to hear her screaming for help,” Broadway said.
The next day, doctors examined Lee's brain, inserting a coil into her brain, which is often used to treat aneurysms.
Hours passed, and Lee didn't come out of recovery. Doctors invited the family into a room and informed them that there were complications and "there is nothing we can do for Lee."
“I lost it. I ran out of the room,” said Broadway.
The coil popped out of place and Lee experienced complications. She was brain dead and died on April 3.
“It was a huge surprise,” said Broadway. “For some reason for her to bleed out, it is unexplainable.”
While experiencing crippling headaches can be a sign of an aneurysm, doctors told the TODAY Show that ruptured aneurysms are exceedingly rare.
“There is a less than one percent chance of an aneurysm rupturing,” said Dr. Mark Bain, a neurosurgeon at Cleveland Clinic, who did not treat Lee.
