Help The Thompson's

Hello friends,

As many of you know Nate has had recent brain surgery to remove a level 4 AVM.


It all started on January 3, 2019. After celebrating Christmas and New Years with family and friends Nate drove back up to Phoenix on Wednesday January 2 to start working on a new project with Olympic. He worked on Wednesday and Thursday and Thursday night his roommate noticed Nate was acting strangely and slurring his speech. His roommate Aaron immediately drove Nate to the urgent care and then was transported to St Joseph’s ER Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. During this time Kira, Nate’s wife was unaware of what was happening. She was asleep with both of their kids, Saxen 5 and Mason 2 1/2. After rising at about 6 Kira then received a phone call about what had happened to Nate. She immediately called her mom Gloria and we drove up to Phoenix not knowing what was happening. It was a very scary drive to Phoenix but we managed to get ahold of Nate’s parents, Lyle and Theresa and they drove straight through to Arizona.

Upon arriving at St Joseph’s Hospital, Barrow Neurological Institute Nate was in ICU hooked up to several IVs. He was alert and talking to us but was sometimes saying weird things. After talking to doctors Nate was scheduled for several MRIs and CTs to see what had happened. We were told that Nate had a very large grade 4 AVM the size of the doctors fist in his frontal lobe. He told us that Nate would be undergoing two angiograms with embolizations one on Saturday and one on Sunday where they would localize the AVM and put glue and coils in to help in stopping the bleeding. During this time Nate was anesthetized and had trouble coming out of the anesthesia which was heart breaking to see him go through this. Dr Lawton who is chief of neurology at Barrows Neurological Institute told us that Nate needed brain surgery to remove it and it would be scheduled for Monday January 7. This was an agonizing wait for all of us but we were told by several people that he was in the best place and had the best doctors ever. That was reassuring. Monday came and it was time for surgery. We were all very anxious and decided to go back to hotel to sleep so the time would go faster. The nurses were wonderful and called every hour to let us know how he was doing. Finally after 12 hours he was in recovery. Kira and his mom Theresa went into recovery and saw him. It was heartbreaking to see him in this condition with an incision from ear to ear and lots of tubes. It took him almost 24 hours to come out of anesthesia. He was not communicating and had trouble moving his right side. He also had fluid in the ventricles of his brain. We were told he had hydrocephalus and would need a temporary drain in his brain. This tube we were told is keeping him alive. After several days and countless MRIs, CTs, angiograms and lots of prayers and tears Nate woke up. He is talking better but has been confused and running fevers. We hope that will improve after physical therapy. He is eating and drinking better and has been sitting up however he still is in ICU. We will not know about whether or not he needs a permanent shunt for a few days which will involve another surgery.

Nate has what the nurses call ICU delirium and keeps telling Kira that he needs to go to work. He loves his work. He will be off several months or possibly a year. He will undergo physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. He has been in ICU since the 4th and will be in a few more days we believe and then move to another room. We are not sure how long in the hospital. He will have to go for acute rehabilitation at another facility after the hospital. Nate has good insurance but will not be working for several months or possibly a year and Kira does not work. Nate is the sole provider. She is a full time straight A student in Pima Community College for the respiratory therapy program. So finances will be a struggle.


We are thankful for everyone’s prayers during this time. Thank you all for your donations. God bless.