A 31-year-old woman lives in constant fear, questioning daily whether this might be the day she loses her life. She has opened up about the initial symptoms she experienced before receiving a proper diagnosis.
Amber Ford, a resident of Scotland, first noticed her health issues in 2018. However, it wasn’t until an MRI scan in April 2024 that she discovered the real cause of her problems.
Initially worried about the possibility of throat cancer, a subsequent CT scan revealed a ‘shadow’ in her brain. Following the MRI, it was identified as up to three aneurysms.
Aneurysms develop from a bulge in a brain blood vessel, which can be critical if they burst.
Amber, now 31, describes her daily life as filled with ‘unbearable anxiety’.
In a conversation with PA Real Life, she expressed her fears with thoughts like: “‘Are they going to rupture today?’ and ‘Am I going to die today?'”
Reflecting on her initial signs of concern, Amber recalled a morning in 2018 when she awoke to find her face ‘all twisted’. Upon consulting a doctor, she was diagnosed with mumps and Bell’s palsy, a condition that causes temporary weakness, often on one side of the face.
“Since then, things haven’t been right – my bloods have been off, I’m always catching infections, things like that,” she explained.
More symptoms appeared by late 2020. Amber found herself falling asleep at work and even while ‘standing up’.
“I started having bad headaches to the point I couldn’t lift my head and the light in the room was too much,” she mentioned. “I was being sick in my sleep and I was waking up choking, I couldn’t breathe.”
She also experienced vision ‘disturbances’, a loss of leg function while laughing, and unexpected behavior changes. Despite reporting these symptoms to a hospital, she felt dismissed.
“I knew there was something wrong with me for a long time but I was being told that I was bringing these issues on myself or I needed psychiatric treatment,” she stated.
Believing she had throat cancer, she utilized her work’s private healthcare to get a CT scan, which eventually highlighted the ‘shadow’.
The MRI then showed Amber has a fenestration in her brain, where a single artery splits into two, and possibly up to three aneurysms.
Currently, she faces the option of undergoing surgery to cut off blood supply to the aneurysms, a procedure that risks causing a hemorrhage, potentially leaving her permanently disabled or even leading to death.
Alternatively, she could choose to do nothing, risking an aneurysm rupture at any time.
In her search for solutions, Amber has identified a doctor in the US who specializes in complex and rare aneurysm cases. She has initiated a GoFundMe campaign to raise funds for her travel and treatment needs.
“This has completely taken over my whole life … I don’t even leave the house because I start having panic attacks,” she revealed. “I genuinely just want my life back, I want to have a family and enjoy my life.”
For those interested in supporting Amber’s cause, donations can be made to her GoFundMe page here.