Update #5

DJ Brinkerhoff, Nick's older brother, just sent me these - a recent photo of Nick (over in the right column) and a summary of what's happened the last couple of days:

About a week ago my little brother Nick started to get a headache. This headache lasted a week and then on Thursday, turned into what we thought was a violent case of the flu. However, at about six o’clock that night, he stopped responding, his face was pale, and his eyes rolled back a bit. This is when my parents took him to Children's Hospital and he was immediately admitted.

Two years ago Nick had a cold. His body attacked his brain rather than the cold, and he started to lose memory and motor skills. Most children are permanently dam-aged but Nick bounced back within a month or two and was fine. For this reason, the doctors assumed that was what had happened again, only worse.

Friday morning they did an MRI and an EKG to check his brian, neck, spine etc. What they found was not what they were expecting. Nick had a stroke due to a blood clot that moved to the primary vein that supplies blood to the back of his brain. On the results you could clearly see the black patch on his brain. The doctors told us that we had 30 minutes to make a decision. Either let him die in about 2-4 days in a coma, or, try to remove the blood clot with a 1% chance he would live. My parents to decided to try and save his life. We went into the OR and said goodbye to my little brother. It was the hardest, and most surreal experience in my entire life. My Uncle who is a pastor, came in and prayed over Nick and the surgeon (which we had been doing for a long time), and we left. They told us the procedure would take about 30 minutes. Instead it took 1 hour. As my uncle was reading a bible verse about our prayers being answered (he didn’t even get to the answered part yet) the doctor walked in said he made it through, rock solid, no complications. To me, this was the best news possible and I couldn’t stop smiling. However it is by no means over,

They informed us that the next six hours would be critical, then 12, then 24. If the artery where the clot was didn’t burst by then, and the brain didn’t have a bleed out, it most likely wouldn’t happen. We have passed the 24 hour mark and nothing has happened. He will remain in a drug induced coma in order to keep his blood pressure low and allow the brain to heal.

So now, if you believe in prayer (or even if you don’t) pray that he does not have a bleed out, that the artery heals on its own, and that he has no brain damage. All of your prayers are greatly, and sincerely appreciated.

Yours In Life, DJ Brinkerhoff