Cynthia Martinez recently had a partial skull removal and after God spared her life, she is spending all her time now telling others about brain aneurysms and strokes to help save other lives.
Cynthia Martinez, a former beauty queen from Delaware tells us about the nightmare she suffered in 2018, when she was just 34 years old.
Cynthia and her 4-year-old son had gone to a friend’s house for a family game night, but as they arrived she suddenly collapsed. “I had bent over to tell my son something when I just fell — in front of my friends and at the feet of my son,” Cynthia says.
Her friends called for help, and paramedics took Cynthia to the hospital. By then, she was screaming in pain from a horrendous headache, which doctors later diagnosed as a ruptured brain aneurysm.
“Within a few hours I had a craniotomy to clip the aneurysm,” Cynthia explains. But that was only the start as she would have to undergo a partial skull removal later.
The decision for a partial skull removal came after her initial collapse, followed by pneumonia and infections in her lungs, kidneys, and blood. And, she also suffered a stroke, which caused her brain to swell.
Doctors had no choice but to perform a partial skull removal—a craniotomy—and there was no guarantee Cynthia would survive the procedure. “My family was in absolute shock and disbelief,” she explained. “They [doctors] went from, ‘Oh she’s going to be OK’ to ‘Wait, what are her final wishes?’.”
It was a miracle that Cynthia survived, and although it took a lot of work and time, she made a full recovery. Today, she is sure that it was God behind it all. “Miracles and the power of prayer are very real,” she says.
Cynthia testifies that her recovery was due to all the people praying for her. “I have family in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay that were all praying for me. As well as family friends in Spain, co-workers in the UK, current and old co-workers all over the US that were praying for me,” she says. “And it worked. I’m walking proof that it works; the power of prayer and miracles are very real.”
Cynthia Martinez had to undergo several more surgeries due to an infected bone flap. She also had to wear a tissue expander to stretch her skin so doctors could later insert synthetic bone into her skull.
Cynthia has survived an aneurysm, stroke, infections, and partial skull removal and is thankful to God for taking her through all this and bringing her out safely.
She says, “Things could have gone very, very wrong. For my family and especially my son – like it does for countless people in my situation,” she says.
“When things get tough I try to remind myself that I’m alive and I was given this privilege of living. I struggle because I’m living.” She is now using her inspirational story to encourage others in her situation.
“We are all strong enough, we just don’t know it until we are pushed against the wall and forced to fight,” Cynthia says. “Fight for our lives, fight for our recovery, fight for whatever it is that is important to us.” She is sharing her story to help raise awareness about brain aneurysms and strokes.
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She is also talking about how her faith in God and people praying for her helped her in this difficult journey, “That’s why I decided to publicly document my journey. I just felt that, so many people all over prayed for me — I owe it to them to show them what they did. What their prayers accomplished,” she says. “I will be forever grateful to everyone.”
