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This holiday season has been especially meaningful for Alison Youpa, 32, of Nazareth, because she almost wasn’t here to celebrate it with her husband and toddler.

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Brain

Alison, Bryan and Claire Youpa of Nazareth have had much to celebrate this holiday season.

This holiday season has been especially meaningful for Alison Youpa, 32, of Nazareth, because she almost wasn’t here to celebrate it with her husband and toddler.

Six months ago, Alison experienced a life-threatening brain aneurysm, or a bursting of a blood vessel in the brain. By anyone’s account, something like that should not have happened to Alison, a young, healthy, active mom.

But it did, and she credits her expert medical care team at St. Luke’s University Health Network for giving her a chance to celebrate her daughter’s second Christmas with her husband.

Alison said the day of her brain aneurysm started off so unremarkably that she really doesn’t recall what she was doing. That night, with her 16-month old daughter fast asleep and her husband hosting a card game with friends in the detached garage, Alison was chatting with a friend on the phone when she felt a sharp, throbbing pain in her head and neck that seemed to go from zero to 60 in seconds. She abruptly hung up the phone and laid on the floor, fists clenched like claws. Somehow, she was able to dial her husband, who ran in from the garage.

When the paramedics arrived, they immediately tested her blood, thinking her symptoms might easily be explained by low blood sugar, but the test was normal. It was on the ride to the hospital that one of the paramedics started to suspect something was wrong in Alison’s brain. As soon as the doors swung open at St. Luke’s Anderson Campus’s emergency department, the perceptive paramedic told the ER staff to scan her immediately.

Alison was then transferred to the care of neurosurgeon, Evan Marlin, MD, and his team of specialists at St. Luke’s University Hospital-Bethlehem. Dr. Marlin explained to Alison and her husband that a ruptured aneurysm is a very big deal, requiring life-saving surgery, but based on the angiogram taken prior to surgery Dr. Marlin felt a craniotomy would allow him to repair the vessel and save Alison’s life.

Today, Alison is back to working part-time from home as a medical records processing assigner and taking classes to earn a second bachelor’s degree in accounting.

Looking back on her experience, she credits a number of people for her successful outcome, including the paramedic who brought her to the ER, the caring nurses in ICU, the physical therapists who helped her regain her stamina and balance, and of course, Dr. Marlin and his team who performed the surgery and continue to care for her.

“I had a lot of angels that day and a lot of things went my way, and for that I’ll always be grateful,” Allison says.

Note: This local health news is brought to you in partnership with St. Luke’s University Health Network.

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About the author

Josh Popichak

Josh Popichak is the owner, publisher and editor of Saucon Source. A Lehigh Valley native, he's covered local news since 2005 and previously worked for Berks-Mont News and AOL/Patch. Contact him at josh@sauconsource.com.

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