Ryan Westmoreland to Undergo Brain Surgery

I can’t imagine what he’s going through.

http://bit.ly/cL6rTc – just posting this again

very sad news. Hope he gets healthy and back soon.

Poor kid can’t stay healthy. I’m sure it is difficult to deal with the seemingly never ending stream of setbacks. Hope he has a good recovery.

People shouldnt be worrying about him getting back soon. Thats seems selfish. The question is whether he will make a full recovery.

 The condition he has is potentially life threatening, and brain surgery has a very high mortality rate. It is unknown if he will ever play again.

This (WARNING: Some slightly graphic images) report had 12 patients who had a brain stem cavernous malformation. All 12 lived, only 1 had lasting neurological damage, though 4 required future surgeries. Apparently, all but 2 came out with some deficiency, but 10 of them went away fairly quickly (the term “transient” is used).

To be far too simple about it, the mortality rate does seem to be low, and if he comes out with some apparent problems, it’s not a reason to panic.

Best Wishes for Westy.

But it’s definitely improved a lot in recent decades. And as the posters upthread have noted, by being a member of the Sox, who take these issues very seriously, and can offer very excellent care—certainly a lot better than he would have gotten as a student—they can deal with it now before it’s done a lot of damage.

I don’t have near the knowledge of prospects as most of you, but he is obviously held in very high regard around these parts.

All the best to him. This must be frightening times for him.

http://www.projo.com/redsox/content/red_sox_ryan_westmoreland_03-15-10_5OHPEAD_v3.30148c0.html

Posting about a brain injury to former UConn point guard A.J. Price (who plays for the Indiana Pacers now); he was a freshman in college if I remember correctly and if there’s any silver lining in all of this, A.J. came out of it and had a good career at UConn and more importantly, came out with good health.

So for Westy, here’s to you fighting this off, and coming out of this ordeal a stronger person, emotionally, health-wise, etc. Clearly, baseball is the furthest thing on anybody’s mind in regards to this as it should be.

The best of luck in regards to the surgery and our hopes and prayers go out to you.

To give you an idea about the international reputation of Barrow, one of the members of the Saudi royal family spent about six months there. The entourage took an entire floor, remodeled it at some extraordinary cost and donated the upgrades to the hospital as part of the “rent.” They, obvously, could have gone anywhere in the world and chose Barrow.

One of my friends who emphasizes medical malpractice litigation in his practice has told me that any neurosurgeon who has privileges to perform surgery at Barrow is absolutely elite and that Dr. Spetzler has a spotless reputation.