A silent killer

A brain aneurysm is a weakened, bulging area in a brain artery. If it ruptures, blood leaks into the space between the brain and skull, causing a life-threatening type of stroke known as a subarachnoid hemorrhage, according to the BAF.

An estimated 6.8 million Americans — about 1 in 50 — are living with an unruptured brain aneurysm.

Every year, 30,000 of those ticking time bombs explode, or one every 18 minutes. Half of those patients die within three months. Among survivors, two-thirds are left with permanent brain damage, per the BAF.

“It’s very important to get assessed and treated quickly,” Dr. Christopher Kellner, a cerebrovascular neurosurgeon and director of Mount Sinai’s Intracerebral Hemorrhage program, told The Post.

When Brothers arrived at the hospital, Kellner had one mission: stop the bleeding, repair the aneurysm and manage the damage that had already been done.

“When the aneurysm bleeds, the blood spreads very quickly and causes inflammation throughout the whole brain and in the arteries around the brain,” Kellner said. “That can cause seizures, increased fluid buildup and increased pressure.”

The inflammation can even trigger another stroke days later by squeezing arteries shut and choking off blood flow.