Brandon’s Road to Recovery

Brandon started acting strange on 1/26 and was admitted into the hospital with a fever of 103. After multiple tests and doctors scratching their heads, they finally did an MRI on his head which showed signs of inflammation and possible infection in his brain. They also did a spinal tap which showed extremely elevated white blood cells & red blood cells in the spinal fluid. They determined that he has a very rare and serious condition called Meningoencephalitis.

Two days later he had a bad seizure and was put on a continuous EEG to watch his brain activity. He was on 4 different IV antibiotics, IV seizure meds, and several other meds to keep him comfortable.

24 hours later, he showed little to no improvement and had another seizure. He didn’t speak and hardly responded for several day’s. He was moved into ICU on Friday after another MRI scan showed increased swelling on his brain and he required oxygen.

Friday night he was transferred by critical ambulance to OHSU Neuro ICU where 2 doctors, a PA and 6 RN’s were ready to intake him. They wasted no time getting X-rays, MRI’s and blood work done. He was still hardly speaking and very lethargic. He could not move the left side of his body.

Sunday, an OHSU doctor found after reviewing the MRI closely that Brandon had 2 strokes caused by the increased inflammation in the frontal lobe. Sunday night he had another seizure which was longer and more serious than the previous two.

Brandon will be in the hospital until this coming Tuesday, when he will be transferred to an inpatient rehabilitation facility for intensive physical, occupational and speech therapy for several weeks. The doctors still don’t know what caused this inflammation on Brandon’s brain, they have run dozens of tests which all come back negative. They believe they have narrowed it down to either a rare viral meningitis, or an autoimmune disease.

Brandon just turned 31 in January and is still a newlywed. Briana has been by his side 24 hours a day. Him and his dream girl were married last July, bought a house and have 2 four legged kids at home. They both have good jobs and a bright future ahead of them. It’s unknown at this time how long Brandon will be out of work. Meanwhile, life goes on and he still needs to pay his bills and the medical expenses that are piling up.

Please pray for these kids, donate what you can, and share this story. They need as much help as they can get right now.