This Woman Had No Idea She Had A Life-Threatening Health Issue Until She Got A Preventative MRI Screening — And Medical Professionals Are Saying She’s Lucky To Be Alive

As someone who’s never had an MRI, I was incredibly intrigued when I came across Sarah Blackburn’s recent TikTok. Sarah had a preventative, elective full-body MRI that revealed a life-threatening condition, which led to her scheduling surgery to have an organ removed.

Disclaimer: This story represents one woman’s experience; before undergoing a full body or other MRI, patients should consult with a medical professional as to potential risks.

In the video, Sarah explained she had “a full-body MRI just for fun.” She said she’d had no previous symptoms but is now “scheduled to have an organ removed in two weeks.”

@sarblackburn / Via tiktok.com

Sarah and her husband decided to use Prenuvo, a company that offers elective full-body MRIs across the country, at its Houston location.

Although Sarah explained early in the video that she and her husband started to second-guess doing the MRI and read comments from people with health anxiety saying they “could never,” she said she’d personally never experienced health anxiety before and hoped the scan would give them “peace of mind.”

When Sarah did the MRI, she said she treated the procedure like a “spa day,” taking pictures in her scrubs. “It was a really good experience, like, it did kind of feel like a spa day — until it didn’t,” she said.

@sarblackburn / Via tiktok.com

While Sarah said she enjoyed the experience overall and was excited to get her results, she said she didn’t know what the MRI was going to find. “I think, now, looking back, I was so certain that this was gonna give me peace of mind and that they were not gonna find anything serious,” she said.

“So I guess that’s why I was so excited. I was like, ‘Man, I am gonna sleep good after this scan,'” she said. Then she shook her head and added, “No.”

Sarah received her results four days later. “The only issue with how I got the results is that they came at 8:30 p.m., and I had nobody to call,” she said. “They schedule your nurse practitioner phone call within, like, 24–48 hours…so I just went into a full-blown panic attack when I got my results and ended up in the emergency room because I needed a doctor to tell me what this meant.”

@sarblackburn / Via tiktok.com

A spokesperson from Prenuvo told BuzzFeed, “At Prenuvo, patient care and wellbeing are our highest priorities. We strive to deliver clear, actionable, and timely reports to ensure patients receive appropriate clinical context and support with their results.

Typically, patients will receive their Prenuvo scan within five business days. When findings are considered urgent, patients will be called directly within 24 hours by a member of our medical practice to discuss their findings and recommended follow-up steps.”

“They found one aneurysm on my splenic artery,” Sarah shared, “and in the report that they sent me, without, like, any other context, it’s like ‘one-in-three mortality rate,’ like okay, thank you so much.”

@sarblackburn / Via tiktok.com

According to Cleveland Clinic, “A splenic artery aneurysm is a serious medical condition. It can be life-threatening, especially if you’re pregnant. Like other aneurysms, a splenic artery aneurysm is dangerous because it can rupture (break open) or dissect (tear). Ruptures and dissections are medical emergencies that require immediate care.” It also notes that “nearly 80% of splenic artery aneurysms occur in females.”

You can live without your spleen. However, the Mayo Clinic says, “After spleen removal, you’re more likely to contract serious or life-threatening infections.” You may need to take preventive antibiotics or get additional vaccines.

“So yeah. That is how my health anxiety started,” Sarah continued. “It was a really dark and hard two months where I was spiraling and freaking out and seeing a lot of doctors, and pretty much treating my body like glass because I had no idea about this, and literally felt like a ticking time bomb was found inside my body.”

Sarah later got a CT scan and discovered there were actually not one, but two splenic aneurysms inside her splenic artery. “So, anyways…now I am getting my spleen removed, and I will be starting the journey of living life without a spleen, which I think is going to be okay and it’s going to be better than having to live in fear of having a ruptured aneurysm — but not what I was expecting,” she said.

Sarah said friends have asked her whether she regrets getting the scan or not. “It changes often,” she said. “But I feel grateful. I’m happy that I know about this and had the chance to decide what I wanted to do moving forward. But I’ve also had people say, ‘Oh, I have health anxiety, I want to go do this.'”

“For the people that already have existing health anxiety, I truly don’t know if I can recommend it because I was just like a normal anxious girlie before this, and now, I’m a normal anxious girlie with debilitating health anxiety that I’m trying to overcome,” she continued. “But I will say, I’m pretty proud of myself for the way that I overcame this. And…yeah. Two months ago was a very different story.”

Some commenters in the medical field told Sarah just how lucky she was to have found this condition early. “My jaw dropped reading splenic aneurysm. I’ve only experienced 3 patients come in the ED [Emergency Department] with a ruptured aneurysm and all three didn’t make it,” said one commenter.

Another said, “Provider here. Count your lucky stars-you definitely have a reason to still be here! I know it’s terrifying, but you just dodged an untimely death!”

Others had lost loved ones to ruptured splenic aneurysms and told Sarah they felt she was lucky, too. One said, “My brother in law just died of a splenic artery aneurysm. He was 39 and extremely healthy. You are so so lucky.”

Another shared, “One of my best friends passed away from a splenic aneurysm. She was about 37 weeks pregnant & also lost the baby. Getting that scan done is a blessing in disguise whether you realize it or not!”

Unsurprisingly, commenters also mentioned they wished that insurance would cover the scans. “I hope one day this can be covered by insurance (or better yet covered by free healthcare) so that everyone can have preventative care,” someone said.

Another said, “I don’t understand why every insurance cannot provide 1 full body scan to every person. Just once a year. … It would be so amazing.”

And finally, “Our insurance should cover regular scans,” said another.

Prenuvo’s scans are elective, meaning they are not covered by insurance. However, Prenuvo said on its website some people “have been able to get full or partial reimbursement.” Prices can range anywhere from $999 for a Torso Scan to $2,499 for a Whole Body Scan to $4,499 for an Enhanced Screening in New York City (some of the prices are dependent on location).

In the US, MRIs can cost, on average, $400 to $12,000, according to GoodRx. Some portion of MRIs could be covered by insurance, but that depends on the type of insurance, whether or not the MRI provider is in or out-of-network, if there are additional medications needed with the procedure, and if it’s considered medically necessary.

If you’re curious, here are the symptoms and risk factors of a splenic artery aneurysm from the Cleveland Clinic: You’re at the highest risk if you’re female and over 60. Symptoms include “pain in the upper left part of your belly that may radiate (spread) toward your left shoulder, or pulsating in your upper left belly.”

These may be different for everyone because, as Sarah mentioned, she had no symptoms prior to learning about her diagnosis.

If you’d like to follow along with Sarah as she recovers from having her spleen removed, she has shared a post-op video over on her TikTok; you can also watch the full video of her story below.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on elective procedures and whether or not you’d consider doing something like this in the comments.

This post was originally published on here