Team Kevin - Brain Tumor
Donation protected
I received a call on December 2, 2014 from my brother Kevin (who is a young 49 yrs. old) letting me know that he had went to the Emergency room in Seattle for what he thought was a sinus infection that turned out to be a lemon size brain tumor called a Meningiomas located over his brain stem and off to the left side of brain. The Neuro Surgeon told Kevin he was lucky it was detected that day as most would come into ER with a tumor that size creating problems and fall into a coma and die. Kevin had the surgery December 3 and was in surgery over 14 hours. However, only half the tumor was removed in that time as when the surgeon got in there he found the tumor to be very vascular and could only remove 1/2 in that 14 hours safely without risking more damage and Kevins life.
Kevin has been hospitalized since December 2 and managed to survive many problems associated with the tumor and surgery. He went back in to surgery 3 times over a 5 day period after the initial surgery to reduce swelling by placing a drain shunt in the top of his head and when swelling did not decrease enough a bone was removed (that will be replaced at a later date) to give the brain more room to swell, he had a feeding tube put in his stomach (he is still unable to eat)and he remained on life support for quite some time and now has a trach that gives him additional oxygen and moisture to his airways.
His journey has been long and he has been through some very traumatic medical emergencies, one being that he cannot put his head back on his own (cannot control head motion )and 2 weeks ago his trach came out and his head fell forward and he covered the trach hole which kept him from receiving oxygen for sometime and he almost lost his life. When nursing staff and doctors finally responded his heart was at 20 bpm. What a fighter he is , he survived and is still fighting to make progress.
He recently made enough progress that he was moved to a Transitional Care Hospital where he must learn to walk, use his arms, talk and pretty much learn life all over (and gain control of his head motion) and the estimated time frame he will be there is about 10-12 months. He will hopefully make enough progress over that time to be able to come home and then have out patient therapy for some time and radiation therapy to reduce the size of the existing tumor.
All Kevin's sisters located in Alaska and our Mom from Kansas flew immediatley there to be with him through his surgery for the first couple weeks and now we take turns flying down to be there for him through this long and hard journey of recovery.
Our mother however has been there from December 3rd and plans to be there for him until he is fully recovered. She lives in a hotel close to the hospital and has been doing this for over 2 1/2 months. Some may know that she lost her husband , our father 2 years ago to prostate cancer and lives on one income and is still recovering financially from his medical bills that accrued over his 18 month battle with cancer.
Our family is not one to ask for donations but this has been an unforseen financial burden. We hope to raise money for Kevin's future medical needs as well as keep our mom, Memory by his side for the duration of recovery.
Kevin has been hospitalized since December 2 and managed to survive many problems associated with the tumor and surgery. He went back in to surgery 3 times over a 5 day period after the initial surgery to reduce swelling by placing a drain shunt in the top of his head and when swelling did not decrease enough a bone was removed (that will be replaced at a later date) to give the brain more room to swell, he had a feeding tube put in his stomach (he is still unable to eat)and he remained on life support for quite some time and now has a trach that gives him additional oxygen and moisture to his airways.
His journey has been long and he has been through some very traumatic medical emergencies, one being that he cannot put his head back on his own (cannot control head motion )and 2 weeks ago his trach came out and his head fell forward and he covered the trach hole which kept him from receiving oxygen for sometime and he almost lost his life. When nursing staff and doctors finally responded his heart was at 20 bpm. What a fighter he is , he survived and is still fighting to make progress.
He recently made enough progress that he was moved to a Transitional Care Hospital where he must learn to walk, use his arms, talk and pretty much learn life all over (and gain control of his head motion) and the estimated time frame he will be there is about 10-12 months. He will hopefully make enough progress over that time to be able to come home and then have out patient therapy for some time and radiation therapy to reduce the size of the existing tumor.
All Kevin's sisters located in Alaska and our Mom from Kansas flew immediatley there to be with him through his surgery for the first couple weeks and now we take turns flying down to be there for him through this long and hard journey of recovery.
Our mother however has been there from December 3rd and plans to be there for him until he is fully recovered. She lives in a hotel close to the hospital and has been doing this for over 2 1/2 months. Some may know that she lost her husband , our father 2 years ago to prostate cancer and lives on one income and is still recovering financially from his medical bills that accrued over his 18 month battle with cancer.
Our family is not one to ask for donations but this has been an unforseen financial burden. We hope to raise money for Kevin's future medical needs as well as keep our mom, Memory by his side for the duration of recovery.
Organizer
Debbie Bacho
Organizer
Anchorage, AK
