Her laugh saved her life.

Galit Avraham, age 46, felt a stabbing pain behind her eye every time she laughed. When a CT scan revealed that the pain was caused by a brain aneurysm, Avraham rushed from her home in Be'er Sheva to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem. Prof. Jose Cohen, head of Endovascular Neurosurgery, performed a cerebral catheterization to seal the aneurysm that threatened Avraham's life. 

"Every time she laughed, the aneurysm grew and put pressure on the nearby vessels,” explains Prof. Cohen. "Every time she laughed, the chance of her bleeding out increased."

Fifty percent of similar cases end in death. "Avaraham arrived at Hadassah at the last possible moment, and we were able to save her," reports Prof. Cohen.

Tzadok Avraham, Galit's husband, says, "My wife is a positive person who loves to laugh and does so wholeheartedly. But her pain and dizziness were so bad that I asked her to stop laughing." 

Avraham comments, "Now that the procedure is behind me, I can go back to laughing without pain. If Prof. Cohen is calm, I know that I am fine.”