Please Listen up!Sometimes it's more than a bad headche,17yr old dies after bad headache,was more than a friggen bad migraine

margevans

Posted: Sep 11, 08 3:55pm

I was looking for migraine information videos on youtube and found this video of a teen who died after migraine.Migraine is real:

"In Memory of of Jennie Minihan 1990 - 2007 :"She had called her mom from work and wanted her to bring her some Advil... "I have a bad headache" she said. Jennie's parents first thought the headache was triggered by the stresses of schoolwork and preparations.......

The story w/the video:www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iWiyMPkBgQ - 86k

Jennie Minhan had almost as many interests and hobbies as she had friends. From playing softball to performing in the marching band, to a city girl's fascination with farming, the 17- year-old Brandon Valley Senior touched many people in the community. Val Minihan said, "Full of energy. She loved music, she loved to dance. She loved to work on tractors." But in November 2007, a migraine slowed this active and energetic teen. "She had called her mom from work and wanted her to bring her some Advil... "I have a bad headache" she said. Jennie's parents first thought the headache was triggered by the stresses of schoolwork and preparations for college. But Jennie's condition only worsened. Tim Minihan said, "She was lying on the floor, When I got there, everything she was saying was in kind of a weak-sounding voice." Tim and Val Minihan brought Jennie home and were on the phone seeking advice on how to treat their daughter's flu-like symptoms. "And all of a sudden, her left arm just kind of curled up and she kind of let out a long breath. Seizure. At that point, we were not calling Ask-A-Nurse, we were calling 911." Tests revealed that Jennie had suffered a brain hemorrhage, the same type of condition that had hospitalized Senator Tim Johnson nearly one year earlier. Doctors performed three surgeries to relieve pressure on Jennie's brain. "We kind of just felt she's young, she can bounce back off of this. We had a lot of hope that okay, she is critical but she's a strong kid, she's a trooper, she'll make it through this." Senator Johnson's wife Barb called The Minihans to offer her support. "She was very reassuring, there's a lot of ups and downs, she knows what we're feeling right now and her heart goes out to us." But after twelve days in the hospital, it was clear that Jennie would not get any better. And the Minihans began the painful process of letting go. "To read her poems, sing songs, we had friends and family gathered around her bed, and just doing all those things we need to do to say goodbye." A scan showed that Jennie's brain was no longer receiving any blood flow. She was, in fact, brain dead. "She's not in there any longer, I don't feel her presence in their, her body was there, but the heart wasn't connected up to us like it was before." Jennie had renewed her driver's license just a month earlier. She asked her dad what the "D" meant on the license. Tim Minihan explained how the letter stood for "donor" and how organs and tissues can be a life-saving gift to someone in need of a transplant. "At that point, there was no question she was going to be a donor." The Minihans say Jennie was very well-organized and didn't want anything to go to waste. So, since she was no longer in need of her body, many of her tissues and organs went to others who were in need. Her heart went to a 60-year-old father of six in Iowa. Her right lung went to a 64-year-old Wisconsin woman suffering from emphysema. Her kidney to a 10-year-old girl in Minnesota, whose parents wrote the Minihan's thanking them for Jennie's gift. "It says she has a new life and a new spirit since her transplant and she's returned to school yesterday and we even heard her laugh a real laugh. Thank you, thank you. I hope your daughter's spirit lives on in us forever." In all, some 60 lives were saved through the organs and tissues donated by Jennie. The Minihans had prayed for a miracle during Jennie's stay in the hospital. They say that miracle came in the form of support from the community. The Minihans also find comfort in knowing that sixty families can celebrate the miraculous gift of life offered by the generous spirit of Jennie. "Any parent who loses a child would hope to find meaning in that loss, so this definitely gives extra, bittersweet meaning out of our pain that someone else could avoid that same pain of not losing a child." "It really, really hit me that part of Jennie is out therre walking around, helping someone else to live." According to the organ and tissue donation organization LifeSource, there are nearly 100,000 people in the US waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. That includes 149 South Dakota.

8 Comments // 5 Members

Posted: Sep 11, 08 7:20pm

Surprised,no response.I know it's not a politics,but felt it's an important story.

Posted: Sep 11, 08 7:30pm

WOW...I had a horrible headache ...sick to the stomach yesterday, and this just made me sit up and pay attention..my grand daughter is 10 and has been suffering from a bad headache the last few days, I will definitely pass along this info to my daughter ! THANK YOU

Posted: Sep 11, 08 7:35pm

Very sad. Sometimes it's hard to know what kind of things a migrane will cause so it makes it difficult to know that it is something more serious. I have a lot of numbness on my left side with my migranes. Her parents did a brave and generous act by donating her organs.

Posted: Sep 11, 08 7:38pm

WOW...I had a horrible headache ...sick to the stomach yesterday, and this just made me sit up and pay attention..my grand daughter is 10 and has been suffering from a bad headache the last few days, I will definitely pass along this info to my daughter ! THANK YOU

Your welcome.Like I said,I research migraine,basically daily.Here's some info:migraineous stroke:migraine 72hrs you run the risk of stroke.

Migraines can be herediary.I have more info on my website,I do not sell products or make money,I started the site because I'm a migraineur and want to help others.It's mymigraines.com

If you want to message me,feel free

Posted: Sep 11, 08 7:50pm

Hi everyone, Yes, this is not unusual, that most migraines and other headaches go by as triggered by stress. I think all should be investigated. If you do find you have migraines, please do not let yourselves suffer or think advil is the only solution. There is a product called "temple rub" distributed by the Heritage store in Va, Beach. Google it. IT WORKS! and for long term results and a cure for many, CranioSacral therapy is wonderful. Google Upledger and there are many articles on it. I have saved a marriage because I was able to assist a woman with migraines...a true story! She had the most severe symptoms you might have.

Posted: Sep 11, 08 7:59pm

Hi everyone, Yes, this is not unusual, that most migraines and other headaches go by as triggered by stress. I think all should be investigated. If you do find you have migraines, please do not let yourselves suffer or think advil is the only solution. There is a product called "temple rub" distributed by the Heritage store in Va, Beach. Google it. IT WORKS! and for long term results and a cure for many, CranioSacral therapy is wonderful. Google Upledger and there are many articles on it. I have saved a marriage because I was able to assist a woman with migraines...a true story! She had the most severe symptoms you might have.

Suggestions are great,pass them on.I've done accupuncture,chiopractor,physical therapy(he was known to help migraineurs)you nake it..

Migraines can be complicated,Sharon Stone had migraines for years.She stumbled around her house for 3 days after a severe one,couldn't reach her husband at the time by phone,was unable to "make anymore calls for help"It was an aneurysm,

here is a quote from her Sharon Stone said it best, "If you have the worst headache you've ever had, go to the hospital because by the time you get to the hospital, you're as far gone as you wanna be."

PrettyTomGirl
PrettyTomGirl
Founding Member

Posted: Sep 11, 08 8:19pm

Hi Marge,

Thanks so much for posting this! How very sad and how remarkable that this family turned a tragedy into a life-saving endeavor for so many individuals and families.

I have a 19 year old son who suffered from migraines as a young child. I did take it seriously when they continued and took him to his pediatrician and had tests performed to confirm that something more serious was going on. As he has grown older they have seemed to subside. Both he and I have had the difficult and uncomfortable, but pertinent conversation regarding organ donation as well as our burial/cremation wishes. Every family should know in advance or at least give it some thought. Working in the medical field for as many years as I have witnessed first hand the additional pain and trauma a family faces when asked if they wish to donate a deceased family members' organs. Horrible.

Thanks again for brining this subject to all of us.