Girl, 11, suffers brain haemorrhage while swimming on family holiday
An 11-year-old girl has been hospitalised after suffering a brain haemorrhage while swimming on holiday with her family.
Alyssa Ledbetter, from Whakatane in New Zealand, went for a dip in Seattle last month when she began complaining of severe headaches, neck pain, blurry vision and numb legs, according to a Give A Little page.
Her father, Dave, wrote the family knew the symptoms were a likely sign she had suffered a spine or head injury.
After they took Alyssa to a lifeguard tower, things took a turn for the worse.
“She lost control of her bodily functions and began to seizure uncontrollably,” Mr Ledbetter wrote.
“Her blurred vision worsened, she couldn’t recognise the people in the room and called out for her parents. Next, she began to fall in and out of consciousness.”
Dr Alisha Brown, who happened to be in the area at the time, attended to the girl and told her parents if she wasn’t rushed to hospital she would suffer irreversible brain damage.
The girl was taken to Harborview Medical Center where it was determined she had suffered two arteriovenous malformations, also known as tangled blood vessels, in the frontal cortex of her brain.
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Alyssa also had a subarachnoid haemorrhage when the weakened vessels ruptured in her brain, causing internal bleeding.
Doctors have told the family that surgery “is not an option” as the tangled blood vessels are too deep inside the brain and “the risk of permanent damage is too great”.
“The only other realistic option is Gamma Knife radiosurgery; this is why this Give A Little page has been created,” Mr Ledbetter wrote.
“Alyssa remains in the intensive care unit to this day as her brain slowly heals.”
Her father has described his little girl as “young, loveable and exuberant”.
“She has always been a healthy and active child who loves hip-hop dancing, various sports including field hockey, swimming and surf-lifesaving with her family,” he wrote.
After she completes outpatient treatment, the family hopes to fly Alyssa home to recover before undergoing surgery in Sydney, as Gamma Knife surgery is not available in New Zealand.
The family is also anticipating ongoing CT and MRI scans, along with accommodation expenses.
The damage to Alyssa’s brain means she also might need physical and speech therapy.
