A Wasaga Beach youth suffered a brain aneurism Thursday and is now recovering at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto.

Alexis Killens will be at the hospital for at least three weeks and will undergo several surgeries in the coming months.

Her mother and stepfather are with her in Toronto and long-time family friend Stephanie VanDerGroef is setting up a bank account to accept donations to help the family through the tragedy.

She said the aneurism was a complete shock to everyone.

"Alexis has always been a very healthy and active child, she's never even really had a flu, the odd cold here and there but nothing, nothing," said VanDerGroef. "This came completely out of the blue."

On Thurs., Jan. 28 Killens, a student at Worsley Elementary School, told her mother Tracey Ward she had a severe headache and shortly after, began vomiting blood.

Her parents took her to Collingwood General and Marine Hospital where she lost consciousness.

"Apparently she flatlined. They were able to bring her back though," said VanDerGroef.

She said that is when doctors determined she had a brain aneurism.

The hospital decided to transport Killens to Sick Kids. Poor weather made an air lift impossible so she was transported to Toronto by ambulance.

At Sick Kids, Killens underwent surgery to remove a portion of her skull to relieve some pressure and stop the bleeding.

"They were told when she was going into surgery that there was so much pressure on her spine that if she made it through the surgery there was a good chance that she could be paralyzed," said VanDerGroef. "After the first surgery, she pulled through... It has been determined as of right now that there is no permanent paralysis."

She said there was some temporary paralysis on Killens' left side of her body but she had some mobility on the right side, which has gotten progressively better since Friday.

VanDerGroef said through it all, Killens has maintained a sense of humour, reportedly joking with her mom.

"She was in fairly good spirits," said VanDerGroef.

She is having some problems with her short-term memory and doesn't remember anything between being sick to her stomach Thursday evening and waking up after the surgery on Friday.

VanDerGroef said Killens is expected to be at Sick Kids for at least two or three weeks before being transferred to a rehabilitation hospital, which will most likely be in Toronto.

She said the extended stay means Killens' parents will miss work and travel back and forth from Toronto to see their other three children.

The family doesn't have any relatives in Toronto and has been staying with a friend of a friend.

"Our hope is to get this fund going in order to help them financially with commuting and having to miss work... and at least get some money for Tracey to be able to stay in a hotel one night here or there," said VanDerGroef. "She doesn't want to be too far from Alexis but she is not getting a lot of rest either so it would be nice if, even for now, she could have a decent place to stay and try to get a good night's sleep."

For details about the account and how to donate visit a Facebook page called Love for Alexis. VanDerGroef plans to post the bank account number on the page once it has been set up.

Donations can also be made at the family's business, The Tire Guys, located on Highway 26 in Collingwood.