nary headache. She and her parents were returning
from a visit to Long Island in July 2014 when the
pain struck. Was it a bout of carsickness? Too
much screen time on her iPad?
screaming that somebody was stabbing her in the
head with a knife." Soon afterward, Christina was
comatose and in an ambulance--and her life was in
grave danger.
mal blood vessels in her brain called an arterio-
venous malformation, or AVM--which occurs in
just 18 people per 100,000 according to the
American Association of Neurological Surgeons.
Most AVMs cause no harm, but a few--like
Christina's--rupture and cause bleeding inside the
brain. Christina had suffered a stroke.