Jonah Messinger didn't let a brain bleed derail his law school ambitions. Instead, he's enhanced his trust in God’s plan for him.
For Jonah Messinger, a political science senior with a focus on legal studies from Orange County, California, law school has always been the goal and political science felt like the natural path to get there. What he didn’t expect was how much he would come to enjoy the technical side of his coursework.
“I got exposed to a lot more of the quantitative analysis aspect, and I really liked it,” Messinger says.
However, halfway through his junior year at Brigham Young University, an unexpected turn of events arrived to challenge the very ambition and analytical skills that had driven him to this point.
In December 2024, shortly after a workout with his father, Messinger felt a sudden headache unlike anything he had experienced before. With no history of migraines, he assumed it was something minor — an inconvenience that would pass on its own. Within days, he was sitting in urgent care awaiting the results of a CT scan.
“A nurse came back and told me I had an acute brain bleed and that an ambulance was already on its way,” Messinger recalls.
The diagnosis was a brain aneurysm caused by an arteriovenous malformation, a condition he had unknowingly lived with his entire life. The stakes were high with a significant chance of death or permanent disability associated with a first rupture. Messinger underwent emergency surgery soon after. Despite the severity of the situation, Messinger remembers feeling calm.
“I don't know why, but I just had a thought that I was going to be okay,” he says.
Emergency surgery stabilized the immediate danger, but his journey was far from over. To fully treat the condition, Messinger needed multiple rounds of radiation therapy. While his health required being home in California, his winter semester academic obligations remained firmly in place. Rather than stepping away from school for a semester to heal, Messinger chose to stay the course and logged into his classes via Zoom.
“I really don’t want to miss a semester of school,” he thought. “So, I’ve got to figure it out, make it work — and we did.”
Messinger not only finished the semester, but he also excelled, earning top marks in his data visualization course and was later hired as a teaching assistant for the class. He also works as a research assistant for multiple professors and serves as a student fellow at the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. Messinger credits both his mindset and the support of faculty, family, and friends for helping him stay on track and clarifying his priorities.
“As much as grades are important, relationships with people are much more important than that,” he acknowledges.
Outside the classroom, he has been active in the Political Affairs Society, Pre-Law Student Association, and has presented research at the Mary Lou Fulton Mentored Student Research Conference. Looking back, he describes BYU as demanding but worthwhile.
“It is very challenging and academically engaging, but also very fruitful and rewarding,” Messinger remarks. “You get out what you put in.”
Now nearing graduation, Messinger is considering several next steps. He has interviewed for a competitive remote position with a policy research organization and is also weighing the option of pursuing an MBA at BYU before applying to law school.
“Law school is still the plan,” he says. “I am trying to figure out how to mesh my interest in law with the research skills I have developed.”
That adaptability — born from his recovery — now advises how he faces open questions in his career. For others navigating similar uncertainty, Messinger points to the perspective that carried him through.
“Take a deep breath, trust in God, and trust that just because you do not understand something now does not mean there is not a purpose to it,” he shares.
His future remains a work in progress, but his approach has stayed the same from the moment he left urgent care in an ambulance to finishing his senior year: “We’ll figure it out.”