Vim & Vigor - Summer 2019 - UVA - 7

Samantha Dabney knows there are
many reasons she survived a blood
vessel rupture in her brain-but her
daughter tops the list BY KELLY CASEY

PHOTO BY JACKSON SMITH PHOTOGRAPHY

amantha Dabney had some
stressors, but otherwise life
was good. It was the summer of 2017, and Dabney had
her dream job as a landscape architect for an international firm based in
Charlottesville. And best of all, she had
Nora-her 1-year-old daughter and light
of her life. It is her daughter Dabney
credits as the reason she can count herself among the lucky ones to survive a
major blood vessel rupturing in the brain.
June 22, 2017, started out as an otherwise uneventful day. Dabney left work in
the afternoon so her daughter's nanny
could go to a doctor's appointment.
Dabney went to check on her sleeping baby when she noticed her thinking patterns were unclear. Concerned,
she called a few friends, but no one
answered. Becoming more confused,
she kept Nora safe in her crib and called
911. But by now, no intelligible words
would emerge from her mouth. She lost
control of her body, falling to the floor
and desperately trying to maintain consciousness. "I knew my daughter needed
me in her life and that I needed to stay
awake, but I couldn't."
A day later, Dabney woke up at
University Hospital. She had no idea
what had happened but knew it must
have been serious when she saw her sister, who lives in London, and her parents,
who live in Montana, standing beside her.

Dangerous Tangles
of Blood Vessels

What happened to Dabney was
extremely serious. A snarled tangle of
blood vessels in her brain had ruptured.
These tangles are known as arteriovenous malformations (AVMs). They can

occur anywhere in the body, but they
are more common in the brain and spinal cord. Most people with brain or spinal cord AVMs have few, if any, major
symptoms. Sometimes AVMs can cause
seizures or headaches. In the most serious cases, as with Dabney, they cause
bleeding (hemorrhagic) stroke, depriving the brain of oxygen.
Brain AVMs are rare, occurring in
about 1 in 2,000 to 5,000 people. Their
cause is not known, but they seem
to develop during pregnancy or soon
after birth, according to the National
Institute of Neurological Disorders and
Stroke. Brains shouldn't bleed, but they
do more often than you might think.
(See column to right.)

With Stroke,
Every Minute Counts

It's impossible to know why Dabney's
AVM ruptured. As with any stroke,
getting to a hospital with a dedicated
stroke team as quickly as possible
makes a big difference in the outcome.
Fortunately for Dabney, her daughter's
nanny happened to come back within
minutes of her losing consciousness.
The 911 operator was still on the line,
waiting for someone to tell him where to
send an ambulance. Dabney was rushed
to University Hospital, where a team
of UVA Health System neurosurgeons
immediately went into action to stop
the bleeding and remove the defective
blood vessels. Her chances of survival
were slim, and her family worried that if
she did pull through, her brain would be
severely, and permanently, damaged.
"When I first woke up in the hospital,
my first thought was, 'Where's my baby?'"
Dabney says. She couldn't remember her

MORE THAN

MILLION
AMERICANS

1 in 50

have an unruptured brain
aneurysm (a weak, bulging
spot on a blood vessel wall).
Most people will never
know they have one.

EVERY

MINUTES
in the U.S., an aneurysm
ruptures. When a blood
vessel in the brain
breaks or leaks blood,
this deprives the brain
of oxygen and causes a
hemorrhagic stroke.

PERCENT
of all strokes are hemorrhagic
strokes (most are caused by
a blood vessel blockage), yet
they are responsible for more
than 30 percent of all deaths
from stroke.
It's important to understand
who's at risk for strokes,
conditions that can cause
them and potential warning
signs (see page 8).

S UMME R 2019

Vim & Vigor - Summer 2019 - UVA

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