Mariana’s Story – Video

After losing her mother to a ruptured AVM, Mariana understood firsthand how devastating a brain bleed can be. So when minor headaches began occurring years later, she chose to take them seriously. Additional imaging revealed an unruptured brain aneurysm — a diagnosis that gave her the opportunity to seek treatment before rupture. In this inspiring video, Mariana shares the importance of knowing your family history, advocating for your health, and finding support through the Brain Aneurysm Foundation community. Her story serves as a reminder that early detection and listening to your instincts can save lives.

Video transcript:

A few years ago, I had a couple of very minor headaches—very short, very light headaches—which, in hindsight, I think were probably just dehydration. But I took them seriously and mentioned them to my primary care physician because seven years earlier, my mom had an arteriovenous malformation rupture. She was in a coma for one month, and then she passed away.

Given that family history, I did not take even those very light headaches lightly. I’m glad my physician said, “Given your family history, let’s just do an MRI and an MRA.” I very nonchalantly said, “Oh yeah, sure. Why not?” And then, surprise—I found out that I did have an aneurysm.

I took my time. I obviously hesitated because there is always risk with any procedure. I was extremely fortunate that I had the luxury of time. I had no headaches. I did a lot of research, talked with several doctors, and found the Brain Aneurysm Foundation online.

It was very helpful to find a group where we all spoke the same language. We had all experienced aneurysms in one way or another. It is wonderful to be with other people who have similar experiences, hear different perspectives, learn from them, and hopefully have others benefit from your story as well.

After attending my third or fourth Advocacy Day, hearing all these stories, and seeing how many people who had experienced a ruptured aneurysm were doing well after some time, I thought, “You know what? I am lucky that I can think ahead. I have the luxury of time. I can plan.”

And I decided to move forward with treatment.

I have heard of too many cases where people had headaches—constant headaches, very strong headaches—and they didn’t do anything about them. They just took Advil or another painkiller, and that was it.

Be your own best advocate. Don’t ignore headaches. Take them seriously, ask a lot of questions, and if you feel it is necessary, do something about it.