Roy Butler's catastrophic brain bleed was 'baffling' says pathologist

The death of a young man who suffered a catastrophic brain bleed five days after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine was “baffling” and so extremely rare that a pathologist had never seen it in some 20,000 autopsies.

Dr Margot Bolster was giving evidence at the inquest into the death of Roy Butler, a 23-year-old soccer player from Waterford, who had been fit and healthy before his sudden death in August 2021.

She “could not rule in or could not rule out” if Mr Butler’s death was linked to the Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine, which he received on August 12, 2021.

A “paucity” of scientific data in the area meant that a direct causal link could neither be established nor ruled out.

But she said that the case should be referred to the National Drugs Advisory Board.

“The case of a spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage is extremely rare for a young man,” Dr Bolster said.

“In 20,000 autopsies I can only think of one to two and they were in older persons.

“It is extremely rare for spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage with absolutely no underlying abnormality.

“This is baffling,” she told Cork Coroner's Court today (Thursday, September 26).

No abnormalities were found at autopsy that could be linked to a large bleed, which he suffered in the left side of his brain with bleeding also into the membrane over the brain.

The bleed would cause intercranial pressure, pushing the brain down to the brain stem - which controls the heart and breathing. That pressure on the brain stem would then cause coma and death, she said.

But no cause of the spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage could be found, she said.

No heart or vascular abnormalities were found and there were no signs of gastrointestinal abnormalities.

Mr Butler had not used cocaine - which can cause spontaneous brain bleeds. There was no evidence of trauma or anatomical malformation or history of hypertension.

His blood platelets – which are involved in clotting - had been normal. Although some adverse clotting reactions were recorded by Janssen following the Covid vaccine, these always came with low platelet levels – something Mr Butler had not suffered from.

She found no evidence of an allergic reaction to the vaccine and no evidence of any bleeding disorder.

She sent Mr Butler’s brain for in-depth analyses by a neuropathologist.

Mr Butler, aged 23, of O'Reilly Road, Waterford, repeatedly said that he felt “shook” and unwell after receiving the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on August 12, 2021.

He texted friends and family over the following days, saying he felt “fucked” after it, reporting headaches, grogginess, sweating, a sore jaw and sore neck.

“I’m not dying, I’m just not well,” he texted on August 14, 2021.

But he suffered a catastrophic brain bleed on August 16, 2021, and died the next day.

“Roy was a perfectly healthy young boy before the vaccine,” his mother Angela Butler told the court.

“He was perfect, he got this injection, then he wasn’t perfect.”