Title: 22-Year-Old Cheerleader’s “Migraine” Turns Into ICU Nightmare as Doctors Search for Answers
What started as a painful migraine has turned into a terrifying medical mystery for a 22-year-old cheerleader who is now sedated in intensive care.
Maddie Clary was found unresponsive in her bed on Saturday, Jan. 24, after her mom tried to wake her for her nursing job, according to a GoFundMe page set up to support her family.
Just a week earlier, Maddie had been battling what her family believed was a severe but routine migraine. Before that, she had mild flu-like symptoms, including a sore throat.
“She said it started with pain in the back of her neck that moved up into the front, left side of her head,” her mom, Erin Clary, told news.com.au. “She told me she had never had pain like that before, and said she also felt really nauseous.”
Erin, who also experiences migraines, suggested rest, pain relief, and staying in a dark room. Maddie even visited a primary care physician, and at the time, it was believed to be a typical migraine.
By Friday night, she seemed back to normal. Erin said they had dinner together, watched TV, and Maddie was laughing and acting like herself again.
But the next morning, everything changed.
Erin said she immediately sensed something was seriously wrong when she struggled to wake her daughter. Maddie was rushed to Bathurst Hospital, where doctors told her parents she had suffered a seizure. She was later transferred to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney for specialized care.
In the days that followed, her seizures reportedly became more frequent and intense. Doctors placed her on multiple anti-epileptic medications and significantly increased her sedation to allow her brain time to rest.
She has undergone extensive testing, including CT scans, MRIs, and a lumbar puncture. So far, no clear cause has been identified.
“She’s had so many tests and they still don’t know what caused this,” Erin said.
Doctors are currently treating Maddie for suspected autoimmune encephalitis, a condition in which the immune system attacks the brain and causes inflammation. However, an official diagnosis has not yet been confirmed.
Autoimmune encephalitis can present with a wide range of symptoms and is often difficult to diagnose.
In a Feb. 10 update on the GoFundMe page, Erin shared that Maddie has now been in the ICU for over two weeks.
“All have shown negative results. So she is a medical mystery so to speak,” she wrote.
Maddie recently began plasma exchange treatment in hopes that she will respond positively.
“She remains sedated and comfortable,” Erin said, thanking supporters for their love and encouragement during what she called an incredibly hard time.
Doctors have told the family that Maddie’s recovery, if possible, will be a marathon, not a sprint. It could be weeks before she wakes up and much longer before she leaves the hospital.
For now, her parents are staying by her side, hoping for answers — and for their daughter to wake up.