Young Girl Suffers Brain Aneurysm During First Puppy Walk

After weeks of anticipation, Saylor was bursting with enthusiasm when she finally got to take her new puppy Major for his first ever walk. With the cavoodle's leash in her hand, the five-year-old "animal-lover" proudly strutted the dog to a park near her Busselton, WA home alongside her dad Rodney and a "tribe" of neighbourhood kids.

Saylor had "begged" for a puppy for Christmas and was "so excited all day" to finally walk Major outside after he completed his vaccinations, her mum Tegan told Yahoo News Australia.

On the sunny afternoon of January 17, Rodney stopped to snap a photo of his "happy, healthy" young girl with a beaming smile on her face and new best mate by her feet. However, just five minutes later tragedy struck when the five-year-old suddenly collapsed.

"[Rodney] said she twisted her words a little bit, not sure what she said, but he said she just sounded a bit weird," Tegan said, adding their daughter then "sort of passed out" and began vomiting.

"People that were across the road from the park saw that my husband was in stress carrying her and they called the ambulance. I don't think she was seizing but she was not conscious at all or responsive."

Aussie girl suffers brain aneurysm, shocking doctors.

After being rushed to a nearby hospital, doctors initially believed Saylor was having a seizure and started running tests.

"I noticed her right eye was starting to swell up and the right side of her face was going a bit red, and then she woke up and she was banging on her head saying 'My head feels funny, my head feels funny'," Tegan told Yahoo.

Concerned, hospital staff worked to stabilise the five-year-old so they could perform a CT scan, which revealed a large bleed on her brain -- shocking doctors.

After being placed on a ventilator, Saylor and her mum flew in a helicopter to Perth Children's Hospital where it was confirmed a blood vessel that never formed properly had triggered a brain aneurysm, and subsequently a stroke.

In the two weeks that have followed, the young Aussie has undergone four surgeries, including coiling the aneurysm so it stops bleeding. Days later she was forced to undergo an emergency craniotomy to have a blood clot removed.

While she remains in the intensive care unit, after 12 days asleep and under heavy sedation, Saylor woke up on Wednesday morning. Additional testing has yet to reveal if the aneurysm was a "freak incident" or linked to a genetic condition.

"It hopefully was just a bad luck vessel that didn't form properly from birth," Tegan told Yahoo. "So now it all depends on her response when she's awake, as to her functions -- the aneurysm was in the right frontal lobe which can affect behaviour and inhibition. Hopefully we get our Saylor back."

The "quirky, unique, and happy" girl will now begin rehabilitation to help her learn how to walk, talk, and eat again. Tegan and Rodney, who also have a three-year-old daughter, have been living at the hospital 200km from their home as relatives care for their younger child.

Unable to work, friends and family have rallied around the couple and Saylor, creating a GoFundMe to help them pay their bills as they remain by their sweet girl's side.