Steve Johnston’s Road to Recovery

Hey y’all! My name is Tracy. My brother in law, Steve Johnston recently suffered a severe stroke. He has been hospitalized and is currently sedated and on a ventilator.

On December 27th he was admitted to the hospital for shortness of breath and feeling weak. After running tests they discovered he was in AFIB and gave him meds to stabilize his irregular heartbeat. He had a severe reaction to the meds and his blood pressure dropped to 0.

They then gave him a different medication to stabilize him.

On December 28th (his 66th birthday) they gave him a Cardioversion and continued monitoring his heart. They thought he’d be well enough to go home the next day.

On December 29th he still had a little swelling in his legs, fluid in his lungs, and a cough. They took him for a short walk and his blood pressure dropped. Due to all of this they did not want him going home yet. That evening he suddenly went non-responsive. They did emergency testing where they discovered he had a blood clot in his neck artery. They rushed him to Beth Israel in Boston to remove the blood clot.

On December 30th while running tests they discovered he had swelling on his brain. They removed 1/3 of his skull to allow for the swelling.

He is now in recovery and will be in ICU in Boston for approximately 3 months and in rehabilitation for up to 1 year. This is best case scenario.

Steve has 5 children that love him and are praying for a miracle. His 2 youngest kids have decided to take this semester off of college to spend every day they can with their dad during his hospital stay. This has been a mental and financial burden to each of them. They are each taking turns to drive the hour/2 hour trip each way to spend time with their dad.

We can’t take away the pain and sadness these kids are dealing with, but we can bless them with financial gifts to make their commute to visit him, meals on the go, and time off work easier.

Steve is one of the most generous people I know. He has always been there for our family every time we’ve needed help. Let’s make Steve proud and show him our generosity towards the people that mean the very most to him. His kids.

Please help us raise money to help Andrea, Kristie-Leigh, Luke & Ashlee, Erika and Stephen get thru these next several months.

Thank you for your time and consideration, Tracy