Please Help John Michael’s Recovery and SHARE LINK PLEASE

UPDATE: John is making great progress over the last 15 months. Our family wants to thank everyone who sent prayers, called, visited and donated! He’s came a long way however he is still has a feeding tube and constant rehabilitation to get him back to the energetic, lively child he was prior to this rare tragedy. We are hoping to get him home soon, back in school and most importantly back to growing up naturally unassisted.

! set up this Go Fund Me for my nephew John who suffered a life altering AVM rupture last September so his parents can continue to be by his side throughout his recovery in rehabilitation, ongoing therapies he will need long after his stay at rehab, and vital equipment he will need to come home. John’s doctors and therapist have been amazed by his progress so far and attribute this largely to Danny and Maureen’s constant support and presence throughout this process. Please take a moment to read their story.

On September 9, 2023 John was home playing video games with my brother and suddenly screamed "I can't see", followed by going completely limp and vomiting. He was rushed to the emergency room where the results of a CAT scan showed bleeding in his brain. John had suffered a stroke from a ruptured Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM). An AVM is an abnormal collection of blood vessels where the arteries and veins connect directly without the normal capillaries in between. AVMs appear as a "tangle" of vessels and develop during gestation. Without capillaries, the pressure of the blood in the artery is not defused before entering the veins, which are not designed to handle the high pressure. AVMs generally do not present any symptoms until a sudden rupture resulting in a stroke.

In an instant John went from a happy energetic eight year old to a boy fighting for his life. After being stabilized at the emergency room in Staten Island an adult neurosurgeon inserted a shunt into John’s skull to reduce to pressure on his brain. He was then rushed to Cohen's Children's Hospital for emergency surgery. The Neurosurgeon informed Danny and Maureen that "John was the sickest child in the hospital and might not survive." He had not one AVM, but five. Surgery needed to be postponed because four of the AVMs were clustered together with the rupture and resulting blood clot occurring deep within the tangled mess of blood vessels. Before the neurosurgeon could safety operate they had to perform two rounds of embolisms, where a special glue is injected into each blood vessel in the AVM to cut off the blood flow and mitigate the risk of excessive bleeding during surgery. The fifth AVM is separate from the four clustered together. John’s neurosurgeon determined it was too risky to remove during the initial surgery.

Over the next few weeks John underwent multiple surgeries, several angiograms, countless x-ray, MRI and CT scans, was intubated and on a ventilator, and was receiving dozens of IV medications. He was heavily sedated and although somewhat awake, was not responding and unable to move. John suffered a second stroke from a blood clot that resulted in a seizure and now requires a painful injection twice a day to dissolve the clot and keep it from recurring. John currently has a treach because he is unable to protect his airway and a G-tube because he is unable to chew and swallow. Because of almost daily procedures and testing that required anesthesia John couldn't be fed for over a month and lost 15 pounds.

In late October John was down to 35 pounds when he finally started being fed through his G-tube. The doctors began the long process of weaning the sedatives one at time. It took another seven weeks for the doctors to wean the remaining sedatives. We could finally see his personality slowly returning.

On Halloween, John's favorite holiday, he was transferred to a Traumatic Brain Injury Acute Rehabilitation Hospital. John receives physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech and swallow therapy, vision therapy, and standing table sessions Monday through Friday. John is still unable to speak, eat, go to the bathroom and walk on his own. He needs constant care requiring Danny and Maureen to be at his bedside 24 hours a day. However, only one parent is allowed to stay overnight, so one of them has to commute almost 2 hours each way, costing about $70 every day.

John’s doctor in Acute Rehabilitation explained to Danny and Maureen that children whose parents are at his side every day always have a quicker and more favorable recovery. She said the difference is profound physical , emotionally, and mentally compared to the kids whose parents aren’t involved.

Danny and Maureen have both been out of work since September 2023. Although Maureen is currently receiving partial salary. Between the reduced family income and very expensive commute to the rehabilitation facility, Danny has expressed concern that the uncertainty of how long John’s recovery will take is causing a lot of stress over how they will continue to manage the mortgage and utility bills.

At a point in his recovery, John will need to transition to outpatient therapy to continue his recovery. There are no outpatient facilities in our area that specialize in traumatic brain injuries, so they will need to continue to commute with John to rehabilitation.

John’s neurosurgeon’s plan is to continue to monitor the remaining AVM while John recovers. Once he feels John is strong enough he will determine the timing of another surgery to remove that AVM.

If you know Danny and Maureen then you already know that they are always there to help anyone in need. Yet they never ask for help themselves. They are both very modest and shy away from attention.

Now is the time they need our support. Although John is showing good signs of progress and his doctors are optimistic he will walk and speak again, this will continue to be a long slow journey. At home John will still need a lot of support and possibly modifications to his home. He will also require a lot of specialized equipment, some of which is only partially or not covered by insurance.

Please any support at all will help my brother and sister in law help their son John recover and hopefully John can return to be the fun loving 8 year old he was.