On August 4, Meredith Staggers was driving about Houston, Texas, running errands when she was forced to pull over to the shoulder of a busy road because of a pounding headache.

The founder of Cake & Confetti, a woman in her thirties who gave birth to her third child in June, had been experiencing headaches throughout her pregnancy, but the intensity of the anguish she felt at that precise moment was unlike anything she had ever experienced before and evoked symptoms of a stroke.

“My vision started to deteriorate and I noticed a glowing halo around my left pupil as it happened. My hands and feet started to lose sensation first, followed by my face, which started to go numb “She enlightens.

“I made an effort to call my partner, but I was unable to press the buttons on my phone. It was as if the information was not registering in my mind.

I was able to get in touch with him at last, but after about ten to fifteen minutes, I found that I had lost the ability to talk coherently.”

Staggers’ hubby rushed to her location in a panic and took her to the nearest hospital as soon as they arrived.

“After I arrived at the emergency room and was evaluated there, the medical staff questioned my husband, asking, “Is there a possibility that she is under the influence of drugs?” To give you an idea of how chaotic I was, “She goes on further.

The x-ray of the chest and the CT scan of the head both turned out to be negative in the end. After then, she might have to wait to be seen in the overcrowded waiting area of the emergency room.

After waiting for close to nine hours, Staggers finally decided to go home, explaining the episode away as the result of a migraine that had passed.

Staggers, on the other hand, experienced severe migraines for a total of six consecutive days.

And less than a week after her trip to the emergency department, the mother of three suffered yet another severe problem while she and her daughter were for an OB-GYN exam.

Staggers states that she rapidly lost her vision and was unable to hold her newborn or engage with medics, but again she presumed that she was suffering from a migraine during this time.

“I wasn’t only coping with the postpartum hormones that the ordinary woman experiences; I also had this rare instance of having to be in the hospital with my small little baby due to RSV and pneumonia,” she says, referring to the additional stress of her daughter’s hospitalization as a result of RSV and pneumonia.

“I was also coping with the postpartum hormones that the ordinary woman experiences,” she adds.

At that same moment, I was under the impression that I was having a major panic attack, which in turn brought on this migraine once more.

After that, the nurse recommended to Staggers that she speak with a neurologist just in case her headaches were caused by something other than hormonal migraines.

The following day, she contacted her primary care physician to schedule an appointment for an MRI…

Staggers was sent to the hospital as soon as the MRI results came back, which showed that the source of her headaches was a brain aneurysm measuring between 5 and 6 millimeters (about the size of a fingertip).

An aneurysm is a ballooning out of the wall of a blood vessel in the brain. When an aneurysm bursts, it can cause a stroke, which is a potentially fatal condition, since blood is released into the tissues surrounding the brain.

Dr. Joseph Cochran, a neurosurgeon at UTHealth Houston and Memorial Hermann, explains that Staggers’ symptoms were caused by an aneurysm behind her left eye that was leaking or bleeding and pressing on the nerves. This caused Staggers to have the symptoms.

The fact that Staggers was able to diagnose her aneurysm in time to prevent it from rupturing is something she counts as a blessing.

Only about half of patients who experience a ruptured aneurysm make it to the hospital, and around 40 percent of patients pass away before reaching the hospital, according to Dr. Cochran’s statements to PEOPLE.

Therefore, it is a dreadful thing; yet, if you catch it before it bursts, it may be rapidly fixed with minimum discomfort. If you catch it before it bursts, however, it cannot be healed.

Within a few days, Staggers was scheduled to have surgery.

“This was obviously incredibly upsetting news for me as a mother of three little girls, and immediately after hearing it, I felt afraid of what might come next.

But at the same time, I experienced an immense sense of fulfillment from the realization that I had finally grasped what was going on “She does admit it.

“Because it took place all of a sudden, it was an extremely strange occurrence. Oh, you’re suffering from a migraine, they said, and then they corrected themselves and said it’s something that needs to be operated on.”

Staggers says, “Even in my wildest fantasies, I never in a million years would have guessed that it was an aneurysm.”

On August 15, Dr. Cochran successfully completed an endovascular flow diversion procedure. During this procedure, a catheter was threaded through the groin and into the artery that was carrying the aneurysm.

After that, the device, which acts as a stent and redirects blood flow away from the aneurysm, is placed into position.

He refers to the procedure as a “game-changer” due to the fact that Staggers was able to return home within a few days, whereas a traditional open brain surgery would have required a longer period of time for recovery.

Even though imaging of the blood vessels, such as an MRI, is necessary to discover an aneurysm, Dr. Cochran recommends that those who are experiencing “the worst headache of your life” along with nausea or vomiting get medical help as soon as possible.

He goes on to say that if someone has headaches that won’t go away, imaging of the blood vessels in their brain should be done to rule out the possibility of an aneurysm.

According to Dr. Cochran, the three leading causes of aneurysms are smoking cigarettes, having high blood pressure, and having a family history of the condition, sometimes known as heredity.

After she had recovered from her injury, Staggers learned that her family has a history of aneurysms, which suggests that genetics played a role in her condition.

“Once I was diagnosed with mine, my mother informed me that my grandfather had two aneurysms, one of her cousins, and numerous other relatives on the same side of the family all died or were diagnosed with an aneurysm,” Staggers adds. “Once I was diagnosed with mine, my mother informed me that my grandfather had two aneurysms, one of her cousins, and numerous other relatives on the same side of the family all died or

“Although there were many instances of it in my family, no one ever brought it up to me until after I had already been diagnosed. Because of this, my mother decided to get an MRI and get herself checked out just in case it was something serious.”

Dr. Cochran continues by saying, “In general, we encourage screening of first-degree relatives of patients who have had aneurysms.”

“It is important to ascertain whether or not Meredith’s children, as well as her siblings and sisters, have aneurysms by conducting medical tests on them. And since the only tool we need to do this is an MRI, the investigation is not invasive in any way.”

Staggers, a social media influencer, shares her survival story in the hopes that it will encourage others to lead healthy lifestyles and seek medical attention if they have a family history of aneurysms. September is National Brain Aneurysm Awareness Month, and Staggers wants to bring attention to the condition during this month.

“Suddenly, I found myself wondering, Why is nobody else discussing this? My impression was that people did not have enough knowledge about brain aneurysms “She has disclosed.

“When you go to the doctor, you will never be asked about the medical history of your family, and the topic of brain aneurysms will never come up. They ask about diabetes, cancer, having high cholesterol, and having high blood pressure, which led me to realize that there is a major gap in knowledge.”

“Sharing my story, if I could perhaps help one person catch it like I did, I would consider it a big achievement,” adds Staggers. “I would consider that to be a tremendous accomplishment.”