8-Year-Old Screams in Pain to Mom about 'Headache.' At ER, Doctors Find Out Why

By Keeley Brooks January 20, 2018 at 5:22pm

Kids often complain about aches and ailments as if someone had just cut off their foot. You never quite know when something is terribly wrong or they’re just being dramatic.

I know my own daughter is guilty of this. She’ll bump her arm and can cue the tear-drops like an Oscar winning actress.

So it seemed like no big deal when 8-year-old Jamarion Bryant told his mother he had a headache. She did what many of us would have, she gave him ibuprofen.

But not even four minutes after going upstairs, mom Tiffany Curry says little Jamarion was screaming in pain.

“Mom help me, help me!” he cried. Then Curry says his face grew pale and the left side of his mouth stopped moving.

Jamarion was taken to John Randolph Medical Center. It was there the family was met with the devastating news that Jamarion’s headache was something much more serious.

The hospital found a blood clot in his brain. The little boy was rushed by ambulance to the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU for emergency surgery.

Further scans showed the elementary student had bleeding and swelling in his brain. The surgery to save his life would take 12 hours.

“He had an arterial venous malformation, it’s a little different than an aneurysm but it’s an abnormal group of blood vessels that are weak and they broke, and when they broke he had a hemorrhage inside of his head,” Dr. Mark Marinello, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Medical Director, told WTVR.

Dr. Marinello also added that many with this life-threatening issue don’t survive.

Thankfully, the miracle workers at VCU were able to surgically remove the weakened blood vessels to prevent this from happening again.

“His prognosis is very good,” added Dr. Marinello. “He did have a stroke, he will have some permanent effects from this, but because of his age he will likely regain a lot of the function he had before but a lot of that is still yet to be determined.”

In the meantime, Curry has not stopped crying, realizing just how close her son came to dying. “Just watching him struggle is hard. If I didn’t stay on top of him and watch him, he could have easily passed away in the bed.”

The family was also emotional over what “might have been” since Jamarion’s grandfather had passed away just two weeks prior after having a heart attack. They all shared a home together.

But the doctors continue to be hopeful as Jamarion makes progress post-surgery. He’s still unable to talk and has weakness on his left side.

“I just want him to have his full personality back and make sure he doesn’t lose that at all,” said Lanard Ore, Jamarion’s stepfather. He also called him a “soldier.”

“We just want everybody to pray for him,” added Curry, “we want him just to be back to how he was, the happy, running around crazy kid.”

A YouCaring page has been set up for the family to help with both medical and household expenses, while his mother is out of work during his recovery.

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