Support Ryan's Recovery

******UPDATE******

9/22- Ryan is still intubated due to his diffuse alveolar hemorrhage, pulmonary edema, and heart failure. His oxygen requirements are still high. If we can’t decrease his oxygen and get him extubated, the doctors will possibly be place a tracheostomy.. The plus side is his kidneys look better! Doctors left sedation on today because every time they decrease it his blood pressure is super high and he becomes restless. They did another brain MRI today which showed a venous anomaly in the left side of his brain near the brain bleed. Interventional radiology came and recommended he go for an angiogram to check & see if it is an incidental finding or a arteriovenous malformation. More testing has come back, but so far everything is negative. Just in case this is an autoimmune process, doctors started him on high dose IV steroids, and insulin shots due to high blood sugars. The doctors said they have done the million dollar work up. Only a few tests are pending. Doctors here have also discussed his case with Mayo Clinic and other outside facilities. As of now he remains a medical mystery. We are praying for more answers to find a diagnoses/treatment, but as of now it is supportive care. Keep the prayers coming for Ry thank you all so much!

9/18-MRI shows inflammation in his brain and bleeding. *

A couple of nights ago my son was given a 50% chance of being alive in 24 hours and he is still here today fighting. They had originally thought he had flash pulmonary edema because of the severe decline of his breathing, and last night we were told it was blood in his lungs along with heart failure. His heart is functioning at 35% which is making his heart rate higher and his body is working really hard. He also currently has a fever. The heart failure is most likely due to all of the trauma his body has endured: grand mal seizures, rhabdomyolosis, complete kidney failure, hyperflexia, and encephalitis (just to name a few). His kidneys were functioning much better the past few days and so is his CK level (the rhabdomyolosis that has been damaging his muscles). He does also have blood in his lungs and they did a bronchoscopy to see why he has blood there. We are still waiting for results. They also did another brain mri last night.

(9/14) Ryan started seeing flashing spots around noon, had blurry vision, and started losing his peripheral vision. Sadly no one seemed to take my family seriously with all of findings & continuously having these symptoms. Ryan ended up having 1 small seizure, then 2 big seizures in front of me, transferred to ICU, was intubated, put on sedation and still having seizures (status epilepticus). They transferred him out to Iowa city over night. He is still intubated & they are trying to let his body rest. The doctors are not for sure not what is causing the seizures..

This has been so scary for all of us and my heart is breaking for Ryan to see him like this. The doctors said they won’t try to take him off sedation at least the next week to try and let his body heal. He has a much longer journey to recovery now. I am in such shock at everything that has happened. He had just gotten done with his second long round of dialysis and was making urine before all of this happened.

Please keep praying for him, we love him so much. He is such a good brother and such a good person in general.

Hey everyone,

My 25 year old brother Ryan has had quite the week. On Monday afternoon my brother texted my mom asking her to bring him meds. When my mom got to his house he had contusions and injuries to his body he had no recollection of. He also lost 2 entire days of memory. My mom took him to the ER, they diagnosed him with a virus causing encephalitis, gave him medications, contemplated admission.. but ultimately sent him home. After being discharged from the ER he didn’t urinate for 19 hours.. ultimately ending him back in the ER. By the time he got there his kidneys were functioning at 0%. He was also diagnosed with rhabdomyolosis with an unknown cause. I flew home emergently 2 days ago.

Now fast forward since I’ve been home.. they diagnosed him with epilepsy and apparently he had an unwitnessed grand mal seizure which caused his injuries (including 3 fractures to his thoracic spine.)

His kidneys still aren’t functioning based on labs etc, they are placing a dialysis catheter in right now & is starting dialysis today.

This has been such a crazy string of events and Ryan has been put through so much. He is a trooper though! We would appreciate support if possible to help him cover expenses of medical bills, rent, car payments, phone bill etc. The road to recovery will be very long. We are all trying to remain positive and hope that this dialysis works. Thank you for the support!