He forgot his favorite song by Taylor Swift and discovered that he had a serious brain disease

A February morning, 2024, Hannah Ireland lasting He noticed that something in his mind was no longer as before. He tried to sing his favorite song from Taylor Swift, HAUNTED (Taylor’s version)but when he reached the choir, his mind was blank. “He was in the way to work, singing as always, and suddenly he didn’t remember the lyrics,” he told lasting South West News Service (SWNS). That forgetfulness was just the first of a chain of symptoms that transformed their lives.

With only 24 years, this young woman from Winston-Salem, North Carolinaexperienced a radical personality change. It was described as an extroverted nerd ”, a fan of the Marvel universe, lover of meetings with friends and films nights. But since that day, he stopped feeling enthusiasm for anything. “I became someone without emotions, I just wanted to be in bed,” he said SWNS. Extreme tiredness and apathy marked the first indications that something deeper was affecting his brain.

Despite being under anxiety treatment, their emotions began to get out of control and Headaches They became frequent. Lasting attended doctors, but it was “completely ignored,” he told People. “They told me that it was normal in women to have pain and that it worsened with age,” he explained. Without studies or follow -up, he convinced that this new version of herself was definitive.

In July 2024during a routine check, they informed him that he had increased 30 poundsbut his most worrying symptoms – like forgetfulness and apathy – continued without being treated. “Doctors only focused on my genre, age and weight,” said Hannah. A month later, while working, he suffered a sudden crisis: he felt a sharp pain in the left earhis vision became yellow and, in his words, “I felt that they were strangling me before falling to the ground.”

That fall in August forced doctors to perform a Computed tomography. The first diagnosis was a possible brain tumor that pressed his Left frontal lobearea related to personality, memory and emotional control, as reported SWNS and People. Three months later, in December 2024the diagnosis changed: it was a cavernomaa malformation composed of anomalous blood vessels that can cause hemorrhages, seizures or strokes.

Although the diagnosis may sound similar to that of a tumor, a cavernoma It is not. According to the organization Cavernoma Alliance UKit is a Malformation composed of abnormal blood vessels which can be located in the brain or spinal cord, and whose shape resembles a raspberry. These vascular conglomerates can measure from a few millimeters to several centimeters, are not cancerous or spread to other parts of the body. Although many remain asymptomatic, some bleed internally or towards the surrounding tissue. That Blood filtration can cause serious neurological symptoms and its Risk of reappearance is unpredictable.

The location of the Durando cavernoma, near the area of Drillprevents any surgical intervention due to the risk of affecting its speaks and other cognitive functions. Since then, lasting lives under strict medical care. It is subjected to brain scanning every three months and performs Occupational therapy To maintain balance. Use one Hood for migraines To relieve pain when showering and takes baclofen every night to sleep.

The diagnosis also brought a Latent threat: Due to previous cerebral hemorrhage, it has between 4 % and 25 % more likely to suffer from another. “They told me that I had to live carefully from now on,” he confessed in an interview with SWNS. The holidays and energy were left behind. Instead, live with the fear of a new bleeding, to lose speech or not to be able to remember their loved ones.

Beyond his pain, lasting he wants his experience to serve others. “I hope nobody has to go through what I lived and that this inspires more women to defend your health”, Declared a People. In her story, there is a clear complaint to gender bias that, according to her, delayed her diagnosis for months. “I wish I had said something before, I wish they wouldn’t have ignored me.”

During his process, his family and his partner Tylerbaseball coach, were their constant support. While facing an incurable condition and watches every sign of your body, repeat again and again the message that summarizes your battle: that no doctor tells a woman again that her symptoms are “normal things.”