Before and after: Surviving a brain aneurysm

Jeff Donato, a jazz guitarist and personal trainer, in the gym on July 3, 2014. He had none of the characteristics that might predispose him to a brain aneurysm, but he survived slim odds after a blood vessel suddenly ballooned and burst. Following a lengthy recovery, he is back to his life-long weightlifting regimen and is reteaching himself jazz guitar. (D.A. Robin/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/MCT)

Brain aneurysms can go undetected for years. But for patients who have been blind-sided by it, there are support programmes.

Ten days after signing the lease on Resurrection Fitness, in Carnegie, Philadelphia, Jeff Donato was found lying in a pool of blood. At a local hospital, doctors ordered a CT scan and, as they were wheeling him into surgery, they told his wife that he had had a ruptured brain aneurysm. A blood vessel in the left side of his brain had ballooned out and burst. He had been lying on his bedroom floor for almost 12 hours.