StandByVito-Brain AneurysmAwareness

                 Stand by Vito- Brain Aneurysm Awareness

                                                       The Story

It was the evening of January 5th, 2018 the 2nd day of a major snow storm we had gotten hit with, with temperatures falling below -10 F, I had just logged off from a days worth of work, getting ready to take a hot shower and relax for the night, when I received a phone call from my mother that I knew would change my life forever: my brother was being rushed to the emergency room after having several vomiting episodes and falling unconscious on the floor.

My brother had just gotten home earlier that day after spending 12+ hours removing snow for the city at his job, when he wasn’t feeling well. He kept experiencing headaches and nausea. All of a sudden, he experienced this sharp pain in his head and started vomiting uncontrollably, when he collapsed on the floor unconscious. My 9 year old niece witnessed the whole thing and went downstairs to tell my mother who called 911 immediately.

Upon rushing to the hospital after hearing the news and speaking to the attending ER physician, the doctor had informed us that my brother suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage (a ruptured brain aneurysm) and needed to be rushed to Hackensack medical center right away.
Because of the location of the Aneurysm ( frontal lobe), they were not able to stop the bleeding via an angiogram procedure (where they go in via a small catheter and clip the aneurysm to stop the bleeding), so the next day he underwent a 7hr long craniotomy surgery. The surgery went very well and he was recovering well throughout the week; he was talking and knew where he was, what happened to him, his name, the names of his family members, etc. We finally thought the worst was over and he would be out of the hospital within 3 weeks (which is the typical recovery time for a ruptured brain aneurysm)

On Friday, January 11th, a week after his craniotomy surgery, my brother started to vomit again, this time uncontrollably. His vital signs were plummeting, his stomach was swollen, he had taken a turn for the worst. The doctors said he had a strangulated hernia and needed to be operated on right away or else he could die. The stuff he was vomiting up went into his lungs and gave him pneumonia. Without much recovery time, my brother, again went in for another 5 hour surgery over the course of a two day period.

My brother spent two and half months in Surgical ICU. He was in an induced coma on a ventilator for three weeks where during this time, he had pneumonia, sepsis, he suffered several cerebral spasms which induced tiny strokes. After three weeks he was taken out of an induced coma, and not even a few days later, suffered another ruptured aneurysm and had to undergo a ventricularostomy so that they can clip the aneurysm (which they were not able to do after the first surgery due to the other complications he had with his stomach).

On March 19th, 2018 my brother was finally going to Kessler Rehabilitation unit, a step forward that many of us were looking forward to in his recovery process. We were finally starting to see the light at the tunnel to the end of this horrific nightmare. After two weeks of being in rehab he started to have vomiting episodes again, and needed to be rushed back to Hacksensack Hospital. On the night of April 4th,2018 we thought this was going to be the last time we were going to see my brother forever. My brother had a 106 fever, with spasms and needed to undergo another stomach surgery. How much more can a person suffer?

Today my brother is currently at Kessler Rehabilitation Center in West Orange. He had a temporary tracheostomy which was recently removed after 4 months. He has been on a feeding tube for 5 months and has two shunts in his head, to make sure that the blood is flowing the way it should be. He is not able to fully talk yet and needs to know how to walk again and stand on his own. His job is now terminating him and he no longer has any income coming in. The doctors are saying that he cannot return to work for another 12-18months and even when he does, we do not know to the extent of how he will recover. While he is in rehab, he also needs to have periodic visits to his neurosurgeon every couple of weeks to ensure that the shunts are working properly and to make sure that his brain is recovering as expected. The insurance does not cover these visits and they can cost anywhere from $600-$700 round trip to be able to transport him in a medical vehicle. My brother is 46yrs old, has a wife and a daughter who is 9. My sister-in-law has been by my brother’s side this whole time, along with my parents and my sister. My sister in law and my mother have spent two months in the hospital every night, praying that my brother would come out of this.

                                           What you can do to help

We are raising awareness because this can happen to anyone. At a moment’s time, someone’s life can be turned upside down. Please share this with your friends and family. Any contribution would help in going towards food and medical bills and other daily necessities.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and aid to our contribution.

Love, 

The Polera Family