Hayden O’Brien and Family

Hi, My name is Mandy Mainwaring and I am fundraising for Hayden O’Brien and his family. You may know Hayden O’Brien from any number of places. He is an avid fisherman and outdoorsman, Eagle Scout, lacrosse player, Royal Family Kids volunteer and is a mentor to a young boy. He is well known for his kind heart and willingness to help with anything. He is the much loved older brother whether it is taking his sister to swing dance at the Grizzly Rose or coaching his younger brothers in lacrosse, encouraging his older brother, working with another brother on a ranch or giving his older sisters a hard time at home. On Thursday April 18th Hayden had a seizure while driving and as a result accelerated his car into a tree. In the crash Hayden broke his right ankle, left ankle joint, and right wrist. He bruised his lungs and got a concussion and a brain bleed. At the ER, an MRI determined that a brain mass was likely the cause of the seizure as well as another mini seizure he had in the ER. Once assessed he was moved to the ICU where the trauma team outlined the rest of the treatment plan starting with an MRI and a series of CT scans. Over the next few days he would need three surgeries, a brain biopsy and continual monitoring of the concussion and brain bleed.

Friday morning the orthopedic surgeon performed the first of two ankle surgeries, placing an external fixator to stabilize his right ankle. While in surgery for the ankle, the neurologist took a biopsy of the brain mass. Monday morning he had a second surgery on his right wrist to put in a stabilizing plate. In the in between time of the surgeries he had PT to help him learn to adapt to not putting weight on 3 of his limbs. His athleticism truly worked in his favor as he was able to slide himself onto a wheelchair and gain a little bit of autonomy. The Speech and Language Pathologist was next and determined that he would need a little bit of help relearning to use the muscles in his face. It is still unclear whether it was the tumor, concussion or the facial swelling that caused him trouble using all of the facial muscles. True to his nature even being down 3 limbs and having a concussion and brain mass Hayden has crushed every milestone the hospital set up for him before being discharged and he is headed home this week.

Though we are so encouraged by his quick turnaround, given the nature of his injuries we have been told to anticipate an extensive recovery time of possibly longer than a year. Hayden did not have medical insurance nor does he qualify for state assistance and the medical costs are already extensive. The brain biopsy came back negative for cancer but as it is in a place where they are unable to operate without causing additional loss of use, Hayden will need further consults to determine what else might be done to correct the mass. The worry is it will continue to give him seizures and could possibly continue to grow. He will need to undergo a second ankle surgery to reconstruct the shattered bones in his right ankle and will be unable to use either leg for 8 to 12 weeks after which PT will be necessary to recuperate use. The orthopedic surgeon at the hospital did not correct anything in his left ankle as it was not an immediately urgent need but without further correction the broken piece of the talus bone of his ankle will be lifestyle altering. He shares a townhome with his sisters who will be taking care of him through recovery, the next portion of which will include Home Health requiring adaptive medical equipment, speech and language therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy as well as complimentary modalities to heal the concussion and brain trauma from the mass and to hopefully find a solution to prevent the mass from causing future seizures. His eyes are unable to converge and focus at the same time making it difficult to know how soon he will be able to work again.

While speaking to one specialist after the next it was surreal to realize how lucky we are that he is still here with us. It is amazing to know that he is even able to go home at all, much less so soon. Throughout the entire hospital stay Hayden’s sweet soul blessed everyone he was around. He was an ICU favorite (possibly owing to the anesthesia turning him into Don Juan and complimenting every ICU nurse who even handed him so much as a cup of water). His last day there he was bummed because the staff wouldn’t allow him to go room to room and cheer up everyone on the 5th floor. He even kept things lively with the CNAs and RNs by pretending to have a seizure when they walked into his room to answer his call light. His recovery so far has exceeded everyone’s expectations and hopefully that will continue. Whatever the recovery time he is going to need some support to get back on his feet (literally).