White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar remains hospitalized after suffering hemorrhage
CHICAGO -- White Sox pitcher Danny Farquhar threw fifteen pitches to end the sixth-inning Friday night. Then he walked to the dugout and collapsed.
White Sox medical personnel clustered around him and then carried him to the clubhouse, and a waiting ambulance brought him to a hospital, where he is now in what a team official calls the fight of his life. Farquhar had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage brought on by a ruptured aneurysm.
We asked Dr. Babak Jahromi, a professor of neurosurgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital if there are any warning signs.
"There generally isn't until the aneurysm leaks and at that point patients experience a sudden severe headache," Dr. Jahromi said.
But how could a 31-year old professional athlete go from peak performer to hospital patient in the time it takes his 93 mile an hour fastball to reach home plate?
"Aneurysms are not very uncommon," said Dr. Jahromi. "About two percent of the population will have them, so in a room of 50 at least one person has a brain aneurysm, they may not know about it."
In cases when an aneurysm ruptures, there's a 15 percent chance of death before even getting to a hospital. Of those who survive, four out of seven will have disabilities, a major concern for Farquhar's friends, family and teammates.
The White Sox have a game Monday night and their spirits may be lifted by word from Farquhar's medical team that he is progressing well following surgery, has use of his extremities and is responding to questions and commands from his doctors and his family. He is expected to remain hospitalized for the next few weeks.
Dr. Jahromi says if you start to feel one of those sudden severe headaches, call 911, and get to the hospital immediately because while a third of patients don't survive, another third do well after treatment.
