Teen’s headache reveals alarming health risk for family: “Saving people’s lives”

September 26, 2026 / 8:00 AM EDT / CBS News

Caroline McCaffrey usually ran in the morning, but on Father's Day 2025, she was feeling tired and decided to exercise in the evening instead. She invited her mother Kim to bike alongside her.

Just a few minutes into the run, Caroline, then 18, was struck by a "really bad headache." She had experienced and received treatment for migraines before, but this was a new sensation.

"It felt like I got punched in the face," Caroline said. Within minutes, she was vomiting. She couldn't walk, so Kim called her husband to come pick them up. When the symptoms didn't immediately recede, Kim started to panic.

"I literally Googled, as she was throwing up, the signs of (ruptured) brain aneurysms. My husband was like, 'Do you think this is what it is?' And I was like, 'I don't know. This isn't normal,'" Kim recalled.

At an area hospital, Kim quickly raised her concerns, but Caroline's physician was skeptical.

"I was like, 'I'm pretty sure she's having a brain aneurysm or a ruptured brain aneurysm,' and he's like, 'I don't think we should go there yet,'" Kim recalled. Caroline was given another dose…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/