Vester Spharler Brain Surgery Recovery

As many of you know Vester had a seizure October 14th. He was found unconscious by his wife Catherine. From that moment our lives were turned upside down. 

From the diagnosis we learned he had a tumor in his brain the size of a ping pong ball wrapped around his main artery in his brain. The surgeons were able to successfully remove the tumor. After the surgery they completed more scans to ensure they removed everything. From the scan we learned there are several cells in his brain from the tumor. The doctors informed of chemo and radiation would be needed but within 24hours they pulled this diagnosis and will monitor with routinely MRI’s to watch for any growth. He has had a few set backs, fluid began building up in his brain from the procedure. The surgeons have now put a port in his spine to release the fluids and manually drain the excess. Vester is currently working with physical, occupational and speech therapy. This will be continued care and as of now we don’t have a timeline of when he will be able to resume daily activities. He is still in the hospital within the ICU. We are grateful for the staff and the support to rehabilitate him. Within time we will know if inpatient therapy is needed or if they will let him do outpatient therapy under 24 hour care with his family being there. 

We’ve had many people reaching out asking how they could help, and while this is uncomfortable to ask we would like to open this up for donations to offset the financial burden. We found out this week he does not have benefits for short term or long term disability and he is still 3 years from retiring. 

We would also like to open this up to leave words of encouragement for him to read later. Our father has always been our hero. He has spent countless of hours helping us, coming over to fix broken things in our house or cars after working a long day at work. He’s always been the type of person that will lend his hand to assist friends, come over and inspect something and do some maintenance out of the kindness of his heart. He enjoys catching up with old friends and has even embraced our friends and treats them as if they are his own children. 

Catherine has been so selfless in this time and has truly been a strong warrior. She won’t leave his side. Their love for each other is amazing. I’m sure words of encouragement would also benefit her mental health through this time as well. 

We appreciate the prayers, love and support. 

For now we will take every day one step at a time. We love you all.