Connecticut Families: Brookfield mom suffers brain aneurysm, has advice for others

BROOKFIELD, Conn. (WTNH) — Two years ago, a Brookfield mother suffered an emergency and ended up at Danbury Hospital, at the same time her husband was going through cancer treatment.

“I just remembered thinking, ‘I have a headache and I rarely get headaches,” Jen Mix said.

She’s a mom of four, who was crying from the pain when she drove herself to Danbury Hospital. She wishes she’d called an ambulance.

“By the grace of God, I got to the ER. At the ER entrance, I had collapsed when I got in,” she said. “They immediately starting working on me in the ER.”

“It was a very serious. Two brain aneurysms that ruptured in her brain. She had significant bleeding,” her husband Tom said.

In June, Tom shared his story of having leukemia and getting a bone marrow transplant from a professional lacrosse player at the Yale Cancer Center .

He was still recovering at the time of Jen’s emergency.

“Just kept a good attitude about it,” he said regarding how the couple got through the stressful situations.

A neurosurgeon at Danbury Hospital- part of Nuvance Health- performed a progressive, high-tech catheter-based procedure that saved Jen’s life.

“We took a different, more novel path where we went up through the arm … all the way up to her brain and we were able to successfully put these coils and stents across the aneurysms,” Dr. Joshua Marcus said. He’s also the Neurological Endovascular Director for Danbury and Norwalk hospitals.

“When she woke up from her coma, I was the first person she saw. She immediately remembered me which was a big relief,” Tom said.

Now, the couple’s son wants to become a doctor. He just shared an essay with his parents.

“It basically was about how he saw these doctors take care of us and their compassion and how medicine has come so far,” Jen said.

The Mix family identifies with a quote hanging on their wall that says: “Never give up on anybody or anything. Miracles happen every day.”

Jen hopes we all listen to our bodies and appreciate the advances in healthcare, right here in Connecticut.

“Make sure you take care of yourself, exercise, eat well because that’s important. And really enjoy your life because it’s a gift,” she said.

Both Jen and Tom are doing well with great prognoses. They are very grateful.

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