Mom of student reveals she'd complain there was 'something wrong in my head' ... trends now
A University of Georgia senior complained that there was 'something wrong with my head' in the years before a bleed and brain tumor was discovered while she was on Spring Break.
Liza Burke, 21, suffered a brain bleed while she was on vacation in Mexico on March 10 - and has been on a ventilator at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida fighting to survive.
On Monday, Liza's mother Lauren McKeithen told DailyMail.com that her daughter will undergo her first radiation treatment in hopes to shrink an aggressive tumor located on her brain stem that is growing rapidly.
'My faith is in her and God. This is between her will to fight ... she is a fighter and in God's grace. We are expecting miracles around here,' she said.
When her daughter first arrived at the Mayo clinic once the sedatives wore off she became responsive - pulling the tube away from her mouth and moving her fingers - but a few days later she had a setback and was no longer responding.
But, on Monday morning Liza started to make some strides by wiggling her toes and squeezing the doctor's hands.
Liza's family surrounds her with love at her bedside at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida
Liza and her mother, Laura McKeithen smiling
McKeithen describes her daughter as fearless. She said she has skydived before and just a day before she came down with the brain hemorrhage she was jumping off cliffs and enjoying a boat ride and bonfire during their spring break holiday in Mexico
McKeithen told DailyMail.com that her daughter had complained a few times over her four-years in university, but like most college kids she figured it was lack of sleep and stress from school.
'She'd tell me, 'I think there is something wrong in my head I feel like I am going to pass out,' she said, 'I assumed it was just a 20-something girl who is under a lot of pressure. The way she said it - it was never a plea... she never seemed like there was an urgency.'
The day before she experienced the brain hemorrhage her mom said her daughter was in Cabo San Lucas with her boyfriend, his fraternity brothers, their girlfriends and other friends.
They were going cliff diving, enjoying a boat ride and a bonfire later in the night. The mom recalled: 'She was feeling great and she sent me a photo of her doing a handstand.'
The next day, she came down with a massive headache after she finished a workout at the gym. McKeithen said that she told her boyfriend she was going to take a nap. When he went back to check on her a few hours later, he was not able to rouse her and rushed her to the hospital.
When McKeithen got the gut-wrenching news about her daughter, doctors told her they placed an EVD line into her brain to drain the fluid - but also told her they were not sure how much brain damage she sustained.
McKeithen jumped on the first plane out to Cabo San Lucas as her daughter was experiencing some cardiac issues.
A series of events took place prompting many roadblocks to get Liza out of Mexico and to the Mayo Clinic in Florida.
The medical air ambulance was unable to get to Mexico to transport her daughter via plane because the airport in San Diego was
