Bryant's Journey: Overcoming Two Strokes

UPDATE FROM MOM:

Update: (03/19/2025)

Bryant is hopefully over the immediate danger. (But at severe risk for another stroke for the next few months) They are now past ruling out usual suspects in someone so young, such as substance abuse, energy drinks, alcohol abuse, vaping, mRNA, infection, etc. (I knew those weren't the issues but they had to make sure).

He did have two confirmed ischemic strokes. 1st one in the Left Occipital Lobe, the second one in his Thalamus. The 2 other clots they were worried about have now dissipated with the clot buster drugs and thinners. All of the cardiac testing originally looked perfect, no rhythm glitches, no off beats, it seemed perfectly perfect for a teen. They went inside the heart to get photos and found an extremely large hole in the septum. It will require heart surgery in the coming weeks; however, at the moment we have found an odd level of thankfulness for the hole. The amount of clotting that went through the heart was able to pass though that hole, which ultimately hit as multiple brain strokes but had the hole been closed, it would have been catastrophic for his heart in those moments.

At this stage, after looking at my medical history and my immediate family's, they believe Bryant has a blood disorder. His blood is currently being tested for over 25 different genetic panels, that are scary expensive. Once his come back in a couple weeks, I also will have to be tested, and hopefully his and mine will narrow it down so his autistic brother (they are a yr apart in age)doesn't have to go through ALL of them, just the ones we show in ours. There are many moving parts to his treatment right now. He has a cardiologist/neurologist/hematologist/oncologist/internal medicine that we will have to juggle between finding answers.

The strokes were on the left brain, the affects were right side body. Right arm/leg/eye. The right arm/and leg have improved.. the neurologist explained that since the right eye still has blindness, he will not be able to drive with that level of deficit. He is ambulatory now, with only slight balance issues. It's alot for him to process. He is so young they are hopeful his brain can compensate for the damage in the two areas. His cognitive abilities are in tact, there's been some moments of short term memory retention issues and he's been more "tongue tied". That could also be from being in the hospital and just being scared. His team has been amazed with his calmness and manners and have taken such kind care of him.. all of them in disbelief seeing someone so young go through something that typically isn't seen in someone his age and he's handled it with grace. As his parents, it's been terrifying. You can't even breath from fear. I appreciate the folks that reached out to us, I am sorry I did not have answers as to how we could use any help. The first few days we simply could not think clearly. We still can't honestly. Rob has returned to work today. He had no choice. Bryant learned yesterday he will likely be unable to return to his job anytime soon, which i know made him sad. He cannot risk even a paper cut at this moment, he's on some hard core blood thinners. He has a heart monitor that is tracking everything for now, until it's safe to do the heart surgery. That will take some time because he's at too much risk of bleeding out, stroking out, or a heart attack. This is so much for a teen to grasp. This is more than some adults can handle. I have no true requests of anyone other than if you are a prayer person, pray it.. if you are just a good vibes person, lift his name up, so the universe knows he is loved and wanted on this earth. He's my baby and we just aren't ready for any of this. Thank you all, with all the gratitude I can offer.

With Robert Edens

On Thursday afternoon, March 13, 2025, 19-year-old Bryant had a stroke while at home with his autistic 21-year-old brother. At the time, he had lost the feeling in his right arm and leg, and he lost his vision. After being rushed to the emergency room, then transferred to a larger hospital and a lot of tests, it turns out that he had, in fact, had two separate strokes, with two more blood clots precariously nearby. With medications not usually given to a 19-year-old, the doctors were able to lessen the chance of the other two clots causing more strokes.

As of today, Sunday, March 16, 2025, Bryant is still in the hospital with few answers. He is still blind. The doctors are not giving much hope of it returning at this point. They are still concerned about more strokes, but at this point, it is a waiting game.

Please donate if you can; it will be much appreciated as the medical bills are stacking up, and we currently don't have an end in sight, let alone still trying to maintain all of the regular stuff that doesn't get put on hold just because there is an emergency.

Please share as that is helpful as well.

Well wishes, thoughts, and prayers are always welcome as well.

I will update here as we get more answers.

A message from Sarah, mom of 19-year-old Bryant.

I just need to vent/scream/cry somewhere safe to do it.

My youngest son, my teen baby, is in the hospital right now because he had not one but TWO strokes, affecting his right side/vision. One in the left occipital lobe and one in the thalamus. We have zero answers so far as to why. They did obvious panels to make sure it wasn't substance abuse; it absolutely is not. (He's a gamer and plays D&D through Zoom; he's always, always at home). Of course, they asked vax status; it is not that either. He's physically fit, abs and all. So no obesity factors. No major childhood illnesses. His heart has not shown a single uneven rhythm. They checked for DVT; all of those are clear. The neurologist, cardiologist, and internal med doctor are all saying the same thing: they don't even know where to look because they've never had a case like this in a young, healthy teen. He was sent by ambulance to a larger area (DFW; we are in a small rural part of TX). These are city doctors and currently have NO ANSWERS. The scans originally showed two more locations that were at risk of throwing more clots. They put him on clot busters, thinners, all the same protocols they would for a much older person, but they aren't even sure what the effects of those might be because they aren't very familiar with using them on someone so young. They are now bringing in a hematologist because at this point in testing, the only thing they can guess is that it's a genetic blood clotting disorder. This is the most terrifying moment of my life and I can't breathe. I can't sleep, I can't feel anything but fear. How do I help him not be terrified when I'm so scared? To top it off, my other son is only a year older and autistic; they were home together when this happened. He's distraught. Hug your babies so tight to you.