John's Fundraiser for Neurosurgical Research
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Welcome to John's Fundraiser for Beaumont Hospital 2019. We want to raise some much-needed funds to support Beaumont's Neurosurgical Research and to do so, we need your help!
On 8th Sept 2018, John, an extremely fit & healthy 31year old experienced an unprovoked and prolonged seizure out of the blue while sleeping. Thankfully, Kildare Ambulance Services were quick to the scene and transferred John to Naas General Hospital. After the initial scans, Beaumont Hospital, the National Neurosurgical Centre was consulted and he received the devastating diagnosis that he had an Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) and an aneurysm in his brain. An AVM is a very rare disease affecting <1% of the population. It is a complex, tangled web of arteries and veins. It posed a very serious threat to John’s life with risks including brain haemorrhage, stroke, brain injury causing disability and the potential loss of life.
Mr Mohsen Javadpour and his team weighed up all the treatment options available to John & we met in November 2018 to decide on the best course of action. Terrifyingly, doing nothing was not an option as John's risk of brain haemorrhage and injury to the brain would increase year on year particularly due to the presence of the aneurysm. In the end because of the large size of John's AVM, there was only one viable treatment option which was a craniotomy/open brain surgery. This treatment had the highest chance of a full recovery but also it posed the highest risk to John’s quality of life providing he survived surgery. It was very difficult news to digest, but we were thankful that treatment was an option. It was here that our beloved furbaby and bearded therapy dog, Fozzy, entered the picture and gave us something positive to focus on.
The 1st February 2019 was the scheduled date for surgery. It was an emotionally charged morning sending him off with the fear of the unknown that lay ahead. 8.5 hours later John was returned to the ward with a successful removal of the AVM & aneurysm and he was met by me (Karen) and his immediate family. Unfortunately, his recovery was not without complications and he suffered a brain haemorrhage 2 days after surgery, but thanks to the wonderful nursing team and Mr. Javadpour's team on Richmond Ward, HDU, he was very carefully monitored, and a second surgery was avoided. John was bedridden for a very difficult 5 days before he began to show signs of improvement. Thankfully his determination kicked in, his recovery took off and he was discharged home a mere 12 days later. He had a recovery period of 3.5months in total before starting a new chapter of his life that began with a new job.
If it wasn't for the confidence and talent of the neurosurgical teams in Beaumont, particularly Mr. Javadpour's team, John might never have had a chance. Due to the size of his AVM, we were told many neurosurgeons in Ireland and the UK would not have operated on it so we are beyond thankful.
All money raised will go directly to the joint research team of Mr. Mohsen Javadpour & Professor Niall Pender to provide more information on treatments performed on patients like John that have vessel abnormalities in the brain. Currently a lot of the research concentrates only on the physical recovery of patients, whereas more knowledge on the cognitive and psychological outcome of patients is needed.
On 8th September 2019, we will celebrate the year anniversary of John’s seizure and his long-awaited return to driving. To raise research funding, John is going to run a remarkable 100 MILES in the last month of what has truly been a rollercoaster year...
On 8th Sept 2018, John, an extremely fit & healthy 31year old experienced an unprovoked and prolonged seizure out of the blue while sleeping. Thankfully, Kildare Ambulance Services were quick to the scene and transferred John to Naas General Hospital. After the initial scans, Beaumont Hospital, the National Neurosurgical Centre was consulted and he received the devastating diagnosis that he had an Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) and an aneurysm in his brain. An AVM is a very rare disease affecting <1% of the population. It is a complex, tangled web of arteries and veins. It posed a very serious threat to John’s life with risks including brain haemorrhage, stroke, brain injury causing disability and the potential loss of life.
Mr Mohsen Javadpour and his team weighed up all the treatment options available to John & we met in November 2018 to decide on the best course of action. Terrifyingly, doing nothing was not an option as John's risk of brain haemorrhage and injury to the brain would increase year on year particularly due to the presence of the aneurysm. In the end because of the large size of John's AVM, there was only one viable treatment option which was a craniotomy/open brain surgery. This treatment had the highest chance of a full recovery but also it posed the highest risk to John’s quality of life providing he survived surgery. It was very difficult news to digest, but we were thankful that treatment was an option. It was here that our beloved furbaby and bearded therapy dog, Fozzy, entered the picture and gave us something positive to focus on.
The 1st February 2019 was the scheduled date for surgery. It was an emotionally charged morning sending him off with the fear of the unknown that lay ahead. 8.5 hours later John was returned to the ward with a successful removal of the AVM & aneurysm and he was met by me (Karen) and his immediate family. Unfortunately, his recovery was not without complications and he suffered a brain haemorrhage 2 days after surgery, but thanks to the wonderful nursing team and Mr. Javadpour's team on Richmond Ward, HDU, he was very carefully monitored, and a second surgery was avoided. John was bedridden for a very difficult 5 days before he began to show signs of improvement. Thankfully his determination kicked in, his recovery took off and he was discharged home a mere 12 days later. He had a recovery period of 3.5months in total before starting a new chapter of his life that began with a new job.
If it wasn't for the confidence and talent of the neurosurgical teams in Beaumont, particularly Mr. Javadpour's team, John might never have had a chance. Due to the size of his AVM, we were told many neurosurgeons in Ireland and the UK would not have operated on it so we are beyond thankful.
All money raised will go directly to the joint research team of Mr. Mohsen Javadpour & Professor Niall Pender to provide more information on treatments performed on patients like John that have vessel abnormalities in the brain. Currently a lot of the research concentrates only on the physical recovery of patients, whereas more knowledge on the cognitive and psychological outcome of patients is needed.
On 8th September 2019, we will celebrate the year anniversary of John’s seizure and his long-awaited return to driving. To raise research funding, John is going to run a remarkable 100 MILES in the last month of what has truly been a rollercoaster year...
Organizer and beneficiary
John Dolan
Organizer
Feena Flanagan
Beneficiary
