Ruptured Brain Aneurysm Revealed After North Attleboro Mom Collapses At Gym

NORTH ATTLEBORO (CBS) - Lori Stalker was in the midst of her family's Sunday morning routine. "We went to the gym like we normally do on Sunday's at nine. I started the class goofing off with my friends in there and then dizzy, that was all I felt, was dizzy," she said. Seconds later she collapsed.

Olympic Fitness manager Robb McCoy knew immediately this was more than just fatigue. "I found it very hard to believe that Lori would pass out from a boot camp class especially because the class had just started," McCoy said. "She's in as good a shape as anybody in the gym."

Emergency crews arrived quickly and took Lori, who'd gained consciousness by then, to a local hospital. A CT Scan there revealed she'd been living with a life-threatening condition. "I had a ruptured brain aneurysm," she said. She was transferred to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence for emergency surgery. Fifteen days later, she came home.

"The only experience I have with an aneurysm was when I was 12 years old my aunt died from an aneurysm, so that is what I immediately thought," said McCoy, who is also Lori's trainer. He says her recovery, after just more than three weeks, is nothing short of remarkable. "The recovery time can be months or years and she's weeks out of it already home from the hospital."

Lori returned to the Providence hospital Monday with shortness of breath, but she's back home now and feeling better. She's thankful she was at the gym and not behind the wheel or on a plane where she'd been the night before. "Thank goodness I was surrounded by my husband, friends, staff and everyone that just knows us."

How this all worked out isn't lost on this 41-year-old mother of three who, even now, is determined to get back to the active lifestyle she loves. "Instead of being upset and frustrated with where I am right now I have to rethink and think okay, I have the opportunity now to get back there where a lot of people don't."