Brian's Medical and Family Support

Hi! My name is Rita Pasono and on September 1, 2024, the unthinkable happened; a parent’s worst nightmare.

My husband received a phone call from our daughter-in-law Christine letting us know that our son Brian was having a stroke. When he arrived at Rochester General Hospital, he had a procedure done to remove a blood clot from his basilar artery, the worst part of the brain for a clot, and had been admitted to the Surgical ICU. That day he was fairly alert (squeezing hands, giving thumbs up, shaking his head yes or no to answer questions). Throughout the day, the staff noticed Brian was diminishing in his neurological responses, so they did a CT scan which showed another clot in the same artery. He suffered his 2nd massive stroke in less than 24 hours. They removed the clot and placed a stent, and from that point, for about the following 2.5 weeks, he remained unresponsive.

During that time period, Christine, Brian’s wife of 14 years, and the mother of their 3-year old daughter, Ellie, and 5-year old son, Andrew, had some very difficult decisions to make. That 2nd stroke he suffered caused a great deal of brain damage to the brain stem region. The part of the brain which controls motor functions among many things. When the doctors reviewed the MRI results with us, they indicated they believed the most we could ever hope for was maybe Brian could communicate to us with eye movements. He is unlikely to have use of his arms and legs ever again.

After two weeks of being intubated, Christine needed to make the decision to either take him off the ventilator, doctors predicted he would survive anywhere from days to a month, or have a tracheostomy performed to keep him on the ventilator and give him more time to wake up. On September 16, the doctors performed the risky (because of the blood thinners) tracheostomy. Several days after, Brian began to show signs of alertness - opening his eyes and trying to move his mouth. However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing and he would encounter some set-backs.

At the beginning of our journey, one doctor told us, the thing about the brain is that some days might feel like he accomplished so much and the next is 3 steps back. We were definitely on that roller coaster ride.

Brian’s journey will undoubtedly be a challenging and long one. However, the biggest challenge may come for Christine and their children. Brian was a store manager at Dunn Tire in Henrietta and the sole income provider for their family. There will be medical bills that will need to be paid for now and for Brian’s future. There is also the cost of running a household with two young children. Your donation will go to helping defray any of Brian’s medical costs that aren’t covered by insurance, and to provide assistance to Christine, Ellie and Andrew for day-to-day expenses.

Brian continues to show small steps of improvement. Most days he is alert and eyes opened unless he is sleeping. He will often respond to simple yes/no questions with designated eye movements, and he has started working with speech and occupational therapists. We are very encouraged by their positive words. All we can ask for each day is that he is stable and comfortable, if those things happen then it is a good day.

Brian has been in Rochester General Hospital since the stroke happened. Once he is ready to be discharged from the hospital, he will most likely be moved to a skilled nursing facility. At this point, it is unknown if he will ever return home to be with his wife and children.

We have been so incredibly touched by people who have reached out and continue to keep Brian and all of us in their prayers and thoughts. We will continue to give updates on Brian’s progress on this page.

Medical miracles happen every day, so why not for our Brian?

A heartfelt THANK YOU for taking the time to read Brian’s story and for any donation that you have made. And one more thing that we ask for is that you keep Brian in your prayers; he can use all that he can get so all our voices are heard in the highest places.