Nick Budny’s FIGHT

Hello! I have to start by saying it has been days, struggling to configure WHAT to say and HOW to ask for help for a man who can’t speak himself. So, we are sharing it the way it is; here goes nothing…

Thanks, in advance to everyone contributing to this page. We are raising $2,111 to cover Nicholas’s March expenses, as he has been in the ICU for over 2 weeks.

Thursday morning, 39-year-old Nicholas Budny had an acute aneurysm within 20 minutes of waking up, to start his day. His girlfriend walked into the room & the ambulance was to her house within 15 minutes of her calling them, but he was already unconscious. Quickly, Nick was taken to the hospital, with massive amounts of blood pooling in right side of his brain. The hospital staff made the immediate decision to try and save his life with a time-crucial, very high-risk, brain surgery.

If they didn’t extract the access blood off-of the brain, the pressure between the skull and brain tissues, the odds of him being alive. It has been 14 days since Nicholas’s tragic injury, and he is still in ICU and not fully conscious. He is fighting and getting stronger every day!!! Soon, we will hear his voice and see his eyes opening to see us too. THANK GOD!!

. Nick is winning the fight for his life, your kindness will make sure he doesn’t have additional, financial struggles to face, when he is strong enough to be released and can finally begin a long journey of healing into full recovery.

--The following is a journal-page that Tina wrote on the day of Nick’s tragic injury:

“Nick’s Journey 2/15/24: Welp... you done did it. Down for the count and this journey begins. Had to call 911 on you, in the AM. You were on the ground in my room moaning, rolling around. I saw that your left side was not working as it should, “Nick, move your left arm", result: right area moves! So, I ask again and again... each time, only your right arm moves.

911 is on their way!! Ellie was there helping too, with a towel for your head, waiting by the door for MFD to arrive, and more.

As I was on the phone with 911, you started to have a seizure and vomit. Once done vomiting they had me place you on your back, and at this point you were unresponsive. Large snores, then nothing, so sternum rubs it was. Every time you stopped breathing, I rubbed like hell to make sure you would.

MFD shows up and they did their thing. They were going to take you to Froedtert, but a last-minute decision was made, so they took you to St. Luke’s since it was closer. So, in conclusion, you had yourself a damn stroke/aneurysm right there in the bedroom. As soon as we arrived at the hospital, they whisked you off for a CT scan. Your parents arrived as the doctor came with the results, and that CT wasn’t pretty, the doc showed us you had a bleed in your brain.

We all spent the day praying (and crying… ALOT), as we sat, waiting to hear that you were done and out of surgery, successfully. They left ya a nice JP drain out the back of your head to help remove any left-over blood. And, yeah… a skull bone… who needs that? Well, apparently you just “wanted a piece” so you had a release-valve for all the swelling that will come.

Did you make it? Damn straight you did!

Next stop… the ICU, but I guess the first surgery wasn’t enough for you. Later that night, off you went again to earn drain #2! This one will help with spinal fluid and to keep an eye on your brain pressure levels (you’ll keep that for a bit). After you were finally done with all the drains, they kept you sedated and on a ventilator which did the breathing for ya. I am not going to lie, but you looked rough! Um, Yeah… we all did,(shhhhh…don’t tell anyone I said it though).

You had much love, prayers, and people right-there with you! Steph and Keith even made the drive to be there with you! There are lots of other details in the day; just hard to remember them all.

So… our night ends and yours begins. Both your mom and I had a hard time sleeping as we expected the unexpected.

2/16/24: It was delightful to wake up in the morning with no phone calls from the hospital. The first 24hrs was a success!!”