In Honor of Kyle Martin

“On Wednesday, January 24, 2024 Kyle Martin was taken to the ER by his wife and father. He had been dizzy, brain fog/confusion, extremely high blood pressure, visual changes, extreme fatigue, throwing up. Some of these symptoms had been ongoing and had been checked out numerous times before to no avail.

This time we got an ER doc who was concerned and worked him up more thoroughly. They did a CT scan of his neck and found a blocked artery. Plan was to take him by ambulance to KU Med. The foggy weather would not permit a helicopter ride. This process of getting him transferred took hours. During that time he became unable to swallow, his oxygen saturation plummeted and he was intubated and sedated while we waited for transportation.

Upon arrival to KU Med, he was immediately taken back to surgery to unblock the artery. You have 2 vertebral arteries in the back of your neck that supply your brainstem. They found one to be diminished in size and function to the point it was likely useless and the other to be 100% blocked. He was not perfusing any blood to his brainstem for quite some time- too long for the miraculous surgery the neurosurgeons at KU Med were able to perform to eventually unblock that artery to make a difference. They said it is not common for the vertebral arteries to block and their tools are generally fit for the carotid arteries. This made the surgery more challenging.

We were told the prognosis would be “devastating”. We waited a couple days despite being advised that night to take him off life support. We ran a few more imaging tests to confirm the brain damage and watched the neurosurgeons and nurses perform numerous reflex checks with absolutely no results. Friday midday we discussed the results of the last imaging test and had 100% confidence he was never coming back.

He was taken off life support Saturday afternoon with his wife, parents and siblings present. He will be able to help many families with life saving organ donation.

He will be missed by SO, SO many people.

He will leave behind at home wife, Molly (34); Kruze (8); Kash (4); Kassidy (1).

The support has been overwhelming. He touched so many lives in his 38 years with us.”

If you feel so inclined and have the means, please consider donating to them and help relieve some of the financial burden. I will also attach a Venmo acct if you’d prefer to donate on that platform. Thank you. ♥️