British graduate was saved by a Hungarian neurosurgeon in Budapest

Leyth Hampshire, a 23-year-old graduate, says he is “lucky to be alive” after he was in a coma for eight days. Leyth suffered from a rare illness that caused brain haemorrhage and almost took his life. His Hungarian doctors said that they had never seen this illness in such a young and healthy patient before – Dailymail reported.

Leyth Hampshire from South London followed a healthy lifestyle. He was vegan, practised yoga spent a lot of time climbing, and he even competed in triathlons. He travelled to Budapest because of his new job in the EU’s climate change sector. He attended a networking event in Budapest when his life almost ended. Leyth said that he was talking to his colleagues when he told them he needed to use the restroom. When Leyth attempted to turn around and head for the lavatory, he then suddenly collapsed and started having a fit on the floor.

He was immediately taken into a Hungarian hospital in the capital. When he arrived at the hospital he was on the brink of death. His colleagues thought it was an asthma attack or an epileptic fit. The Hungarian doctors soon found out that Leyth had suffered a grade-5 aneurysm. This means that an artery in his brain burst open, causing a severe stroke. 80% of the people who suffer aneurysm do not manage to wake up, and it could cause brain damage in the victim.

Mr Hampshire was in a coma for eight days and had to be put on machines in order to help keep him alive. Every hour his body struggled to keep his brain from shutting down. Leyth was fed through a tube in his throat and had many wires attached to his body, even some equipment monitoring his brain. “When I woke up, I was very disorientated […] was strapped to my hospital bed so I couldn’t move as I had three implants in my brain doing tests. Doctors were worried that when I woke up, I would become anxious and rip the wires out.”

“I was actually given a sedative to make me fall back asleep because I was so anxious.”

Leyth was operated on four times and his mother – who flew to Budapest immediately – had to sign papers because the procedures were so risky. The second operation actually failed. Leyth was very fortunate though, as one the world’s best neurosurgeons is Hungarian and was at the same hospital in Budapest the day Mr Hampshire was admitted, so he was able to perform a life-saving operation on Leyth. They inserted a 4cm tube inside his brain to take the place of the ruptured artery.