Help Paul during recovery from brain surgery

Hello everyone. I've decided to put together a Go Fund Me to help Paul during this very difficult time. As many of you may know Paul is a very talented freelance graphic designer. Unfortunately this also means that when he fell ill he didn't have sick leave like many of us might have being employed by a company. It was not an easy decision to do this but I know that Paul's worries should not be about money and work. He should be free of that so he can concentrate on a full recovery.

On the evening of Saturday, March 2nd, Paul suffered a brain bleed from an abnormal cluster of blood vessels (Cerebral AVM) located at the left side of his brain. Obviously at the time we had no idea what happened. He complained about a sharp pain in his left eye and a head ache but thought he could just sleep it off. Sunday, late morning, I took him to our local hospital after much deliberation, from there they transported him by ambulance to Owen Sound hospital where they did a CT scan and then transferred him to London University Hospital (Western University). Luckily, after the CT scan in Owen Sound the doctor said that the bleeding had stopped but knew he had to be seen as soon as possible.

Through an angiogram doctors also determined that he also had a sizable aneurism 4 cm inside his brain. The angiogram took a few tries as Paul had an adverse reaction to the dye. We are very thankful they were able to do the test again since that was when they discovered the aneurism. The neurological team did a few more tests to assess the issue and deemed it necessary to operate on Friday, March 8. The operation was in two parts. The fiber that was used for the angiogram was also used by the vascular surgeon to try and go to the aneurism spot and pack it with tiny metal springs to essentially starve it of blood. Considering it was deep inside Paul's brain this procedure was considered the most risky due to the entanglement of fragile vessels he had to navigate through. We saw the scan of the vessels and I can't imagine the skill that was needed to get to the aneurism. The vascular doctor was successful which meant the neuro surgeons could now remove the AVM safely without having to go deep into Paul's brain to deal with the aneurism. The part of his brain that was affected is responsible for sight, speech and cognitive ability.

Paul has physical control and can speak but is having trouble with comprehension an expression. His vision in the right eye lacks peripheral vision and is blurry. We were with him every day trying to help him feel supported, loved and normalize things as much as possible under such circumstances. Surgery took place at 7:30 am on March 8 and took 12 hours. As you can probably imagine it's was very delicate work and had to be done slowly. Neurological team was extensive (8 doctors) and they were VERY confident that Paul would do well and will recover completely with time. The main surgeon was confident with her abilities and gave us all the pros and cons. We were comfortable with her recommendations even though it was a very scary thing to hear.

Paul returned home on March 18 to start a very difficult recovery process. Physical rehab has gone a little quicker than his cognitive rehab but the physical part has also presented difficulties since he lost 21 lbs in 2 weeks, is type 1 diabetic and developed excruciating back pain that landed him back in emergency on March 23. We thought he may have had a kidney stone but it was determined it was back pain due to laying in a hospital bed for 2 weeks.

Everyday we are working on reading, colour recognition and verbally trying to express himself using the proper words. We know that Paul will be unable to work at his normal capacity for possibly months and has already been away from work for an entire month. Recovery can't come quick enough but we know his health comes first and trying to alleviate any stress we can is in his best interest.

We are very thankful for all the support and kind words from our friends and family throughout the past 4 weeks. Knowing so many people are cheering for Paul has truly been a humbling experience and has already helped in such a dark time. I would never wish such a catastrophic event on anyone. Its a true test to your personal strength and mental health.

If we are able to raise some funds for Paul, it will definitely help him focus on recovery rather than dwelling on the work he feels he needs to do to earn money for our family. Its important for him to get strong both mentally and physically so he can get back to the life he has always known.

Thank you!