EJ Upton scored a lacrosse goal this spring, months after a ruptured brain aneurysm nearly killed him at his home on Dec. 29, 2025.

Upton, a college lacrosse player, collapsed in his kitchen that night after an evening out with his mother, Sarah. Paramedics took him to UC Health West Chester Hospital, a Level III trauma center, where a scan found bleeding in his brain. The hospital team transferred him by ambulance to University of Cincinnati Medical Center for emergency neurosurgery, according to a UC Health patient story published Tuesday, Sept. 8.

Snow made an airlift impossible. A physician rode along in the ambulance.

Sarah Upton was on the phone with a family member when she heard her son fall. His hands clenched and he began having seizure-like symptoms. She called 911.

Imaging at UC Medical Center showed a small, blister-shaped aneurysm in the back of Upton's brain. Neurosurgeon Charles J. Prestigiacomo of the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute compared it to a blister on a tire that had burst and caused immediate neurological injury. The surgical team used a flow diverter, a small device placed inside the blood vessel to redirect blood flow and allow the aneurysm to clot off. The procedure secured it.

Before surgery, Prestigiacomo sat with the Upton family for at least 30 minutes, drawing pictures in a notebook to explain the aneurysm and treatment options, Sarah Upton said.

Upton spent 16 days in the hospital. He had been preparing to play a fifth year of lacrosse in England while pursuing a master's degree in business. After the hemorrhage, he did not know whether he would play again.

At his first follow-up appointment, Prestigiacomo told him: "I fixed you."

That spring, Upton got permission to play five minutes of a blowout game under a running clock with strict orders to avoid contact. He scored his team's 20th goal.

"I start crying. All of my teammates are hugging me and I'm just crying," Upton said in the UC Health account.

Two weeks later, he shot his best round at his senior golf invitational with his father watching. He has since finished his degree and plans to begin graduate studies. He and his mother share a tattoo that reads "manifest."

Upton still takes medication and undergoes follow-up imaging.