A recruitment manager’s final act of generosity saved three lives after a hidden brain condition killed him during a routine gym workout.
Stuart Grant, 36, of Worcester, UK, collapsed at his local David Lloyd gym on March 17 and died less than 24 hours later. His sister Jodie Grant, 32, a registered nurse from Canterbury, Kent, said doctors determined he had suffered a catastrophic brain bleed caused by an arteriovenous malformation, an abnormal tangle of blood vessels that had sat near his brain stem since childhood.
Because Grant was on the organ donor register, his liver was transplanted into a 30-year-old woman who would otherwise have died. His kidneys went to two men, one in his fifties and another in his sixties. His heart and lungs were too badly damaged by the trauma to be used.
Jodie described her brother as “the healthiest man” she knew, someone “good at every sport he put his hand to,” She said he had recently bought blue light glasses for work, attributing occasional headaches to ordinary stress rather than anything serious.
“I think he’d had a few headaches but it was normal, he just put it down to stress and normal life,” she said.
The seizure struck without warning mid-workout. Grant felt sick, vomited, and then seized, all in rapid succession.
“He felt a bit sick in the gym, he was sick, and then he had a seizure, all in a heartbeat, is what the consultant said to us,” Jodie explained.
Medics rushed him to Worcester Royal Hospital, where he was intubated in intensive care. A brain scan taken on arrival immediately revealed the AVM, though doctors still needed to conduct brain stem tests to confirm what they already suspected.
“We were told he pretty much died soon after that, the doctors and nurses said it would have been in an instant and he wouldn’t have known anything about it,” Jodie said.
An AVM can form anywhere in the body, including the brain, spine, kidneys, lungs or intestines, and usually develops before or shortly after birth. Many people carry one without ever discovering it unless it ruptures. Grant’s had grown silently for decades, producing no symptoms that would have prompted medical investigation.
The phone call from her mother delivering the news remains something Jodie cannot process.
“Suddenly I was getting a call from my mum to say my older brother was going to die, or be severely brain damaged. And he died,” she said.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this, losing a healthy sibling with no warning. It fundamentally changes you.”
Jodie and her other brother James are now pursuing testing themselves to check whether they carry an AVM. The family is also organizing a fundraising walk for The Butterfly AVM Charity, backed by influencer Nikki Lilly, who was diagnosed with a craniofacial AVM as a child.
“Stu always wanted to be the best version of himself, and that came across to everyone he met,” Jodie said.
“He was doing so well and he was robbed of his life. If there could be more awareness and testing for AVMs, it would change lives for the better.”