As you may or may not know, on July 14th, a good friend of ours, Sean Delaney, unexpectedly suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage as a result of two ruptured aneurysms in the area of his brain that controls speech, communication, and memory.  Sean was rushed to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester and subsequently suffered a stroke. 

The next day, Sean underwent an emergency craniotomy in which surgeons used a clamp to try to stop the bleeding in his brain.  During his initial surgery, there were other areas of bleeding discovered and corrected by the surgeons.

Since the original traumatic event and surgery, Sean has suffered numerous cerebral vasospasms, which have resulted in him needing additional surgeries to administer medicine to stop them.  Thus far the rupture, bleeding and trauma his brain has endured has caused ventricular swelling, hydrocephalus, and chemical meningitis.  Sean’s currently suffering from frequent bouts of agonizing pain, and his short term memory has been significantly affected. At this point, Sean’s future is unclear at this point as he is by no means out of the woods.

Although most of the above is disheartening and some people don’t make it through such traumatic events, there have been some small positive steps that are encouraging for his friends and family.  Shortly after the initial event, doctors called Sean, “one hell of a lucky guy.”  His speech to date has been clear, and he’s able to recognize family, friends and loved ones.  He has demonstrated an amazing long term memory thus far and most of his personality and mannerisms appear to be intact.  There have been some slight signs of aphasia (language disorders) during his recovery, but considering his ruptures were in the speech and communication areas of the brain, these were positive signs.  

As you can imagine, Sean’s wife, daughter, parents, brothers and family friends are all devastated, terrified and nervous.  He’s sadly been through a lot over the past few years, particularly during the complicated pregnancy and premature birth of he and Tara’s daughter, Amelia.  While not public knowledge, Tara was on bed rest for the last 6 months of her pregnancy, and Sean cared round the clock for her and their soon to be born daughter, who is now a fully healthy and vibrant beautiful 2-year old girl.

The premature birth of Amelia left Tara unable to work and finances became extremely tight, with Tara a stay at home mom, and Sean working part time jobs while seeking long term employment and caring for his family.  Having recently finished his doctorate in history, Sean was ecstatic to finally land his first college teaching job at Endicott College in Beverly.  Before the aneurysm, Dr. Delaney was very much looking forward to returning to Endicott for the fall semester, as well as to the Tangi Learning Center in Belmont where Sean took pride in tutoring high school students with college aspirations.  

Sean needs all of the support and prayers you can offer.  He has a separate aneurysm that the doctors were unable to operate on during the first procedure.  If Sean survives the next 2 months and is able to return home, he will have at least one more surgery to stent it, or it could rupture in the meantime.  Even in the best case scenario, he has numerous hospital visits and a long rehabilitation stint ahead. This will be a long road physically, emotionally and financially and anything you can offer would be greatly appreciated.  He and his family need us more now than ever before.