Jackie Miller James, a social media beauty influencer from Orange County, California, experienced a ruptured brain aneurysm just one week from the due date of her child’s birth, as announced via a GoFundMe account set up by her sisters.
James, 35, was discovered by her husband, who rushed her to the emergency room.
The influencer immediately had brain surgery and a C-section to deliver her baby.
Twelve days later, and after a total of five brain procedures, James remains in a medically induced coma, according to GoFundMe.
Social media influencer Jackie Miller James, shown here, is lucky to be alive, her sisters noted. They said that “if Jackie and the baby arrived a few minutes later at the hospital, we likely would have lost both of them.” (@jaxandrose/Instagram)
Since the incident, James’ husband and family have remained with her at the hospital, per GoFundMe.
There, “they are navigating taking care of a newborn in the ICU while fighting to keep Jackie alive.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the family for comment via the GoFundMe and Instagram accounts.
She and her husband, Austin James, were married in California in April 2022 after meeting on a dating app, according to a post she shared on Instagram.
What to know about brain aneurysms
A brain aneurysm occurs when a “bulge or ballooning” forms at a weak spot in one of the blood vessels in the brain, which can look like “a berry hanging on a stem,” per the Mayo Clinic’s website.
If the aneurysm ruptures, it causes bleeding in the brain, also known as an intracranial hemorrhage.
Brain aneurysms are more common in women than men.
Aneurysms are most common between the ages of 30 and 60. Women are more prone to them than men.
Jackie Miller James “is expected to remain in the ICU for weeks and will continue to be hospitalized for months,” her sisters wrote. (@jaxandrose/Instagram)
Most unruptured aneurysms don’t cause symptoms and don’t require treatment. An aneurysm that is leaking or has burst requires emergency surgery.
What to know about brain aneurysms during pregnancy
For pregnant women, aneurysms have a high mortality rate for both mother and fetus, according to Dr. Marc Siegel, professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center.
This type of bleeding occurs in the space below one of the thin membranes covering the brain.
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Subarachnoid hemorrhage occurs more often in the last trimester of pregnancy, which “can lead to a fatal outcome in the mother and the fetus,” per the study findings.
“She is still likely not out of the woods,” Siegel said of James. “Mortality can occur after.”
“While the road will be long, we are committed to bringing Jackie home to her daughter and husband,” they added.