Aminah Jennifa Ahmed : Student who complained of a headache just hours after her graduation dies in her sleep from ‘brain aneurysm’

Aminah Jennifa Ahmed, A 22-year-old college student who started complaining of a headache just minutes after graduating has passed away from a suspected brain aneurysm.

On Friday, Aminah Jennifa Ahmed got degrees in biology and business from the University of Texas at Arlington. Family members and friends say she was smart and caring, but that day, she was also hurting.

“There was zero symptoms, zero signs, zero everything [before graduation day,]” said her father Shamsul Ahmed. “She said she had a headache and throwing up, and that’s it.”

Minutes after she walked that stage and before she was taking grad pictures, she didn’t feel right. She told friends and family that her head hurt. She told her father she was very stressed from school. Aminah Jennifa Ahmed threw up on campus, and later in the car on the ride home.

Her father told News 8 Aminah Jennifa Ahmed wanted to take a brief nap on the couch. Shamsul would check on her periodically, but said after about 8 p.m. something wasn’t right. She had trouble breathing.

“You hold on to that faith and you know you’re OK with that, but then, at the same time, your world is just kind of tumbling,” Shahina Ahmed said.

Doctors haven’t confirmed what happened, but they believe Aminah Jennifa Ahmed suffered a brain aneurysm. It often comes unnoticed, but severe headaches and blurred vision can often come with an aneurysm.

Aminah Jennifa Ahmed was very active at local mosques and with a lot of student activities. Friends say her caring heart also led her to do lot of charity work.

One project she had started just recently would pay for eye surgeries for the poorest children in South Asia, especially her home country of Bangladesh. Since her death, her family has renamed the project “Aminah Sees.”

“It’s not very common in young patients; usually our average age range is in that 40-60-year-old range,” Dr. Babu Welch with UT Southwestern said.

“If you have two family members generally speaking that have had aneurysms, and if you have a bad headache, you probably should be screened.” Dr. Welch also adds smokers to the list.

So, you may be wondering: What are the warning signs and can this be prevented?

“A headache, a little bit of double vision, a little bit of hand weakness or numbness that comes and goes away.”

Victims describe their symptoms as the worst headache they’ve ever had. Dr. Welch says there is a difference between a bad headache and one caused by an aneurysm.

“A bad headache by itself in a young person isn’t a reason for an aneurysm concern.”

Agencies/Canadajournal