Ryan Westmoreland to have brain surgery today [Archive]

View Full Version : Ryan Westmoreland to have brain surgery today

thedudeabides

03-16-2010, 11:40 AM

For those of you not familiar with him he is a 19 year old outfielder in the Red Sox system, and is considered by some to be their top prospect.

Unfortunatley, a cavernous malformation was discovered on his brain stem and it needs to be removed. The fact that it is on the brain stem makes it a very complicated and dangerous procedure. Here's some more info:

Link (http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/news/story?id=4992990)

At this point, I would say whether he can play baseball again is irrelevent. The complications for this type of procedure are really unkown at this point, and may be for some time.

This one hits home with me as I had a similar problem around his age. Mine was a AVM(Arteriovenuous malformation) on the outside of my brain. I was lucky enough to clear 95% of the blockage through an angiogram, and avoid invasive surgery. This has allowed me to live a normal fully functional life, but not all are so lucky. Any time you toy around with the wiring in the brain, a million complications can occur.

My thought and prayers are with him and his family.

DirtySox

03-16-2010, 11:50 AM

I had read this right around when Jared Mitchell had his injury. It's a pretty scary situation and made me realize how trivial it was for me to get bent out of shape about a tibia tear in comparison. Puts things in perspective and such. Prayers and best wishes to him and his family.

#1swisher

03-16-2010, 02:27 PM

My prayers are with Ryan and his family. thedude, how are you, what were your symptoms?

thedudeabides

03-16-2010, 02:48 PM

My prayers are with Ryan and his family. thedude, how are you, what were your symptoms?

I'm doing well, some small problems with ears, thyroid, and migraines that I have been able to control. As I said, I was lucky enough to avoid invasive surgery, as my issue was in a much better location. Unfortunately, Ryan wasn't so lucky.

There are a lot of unforeseen complications to these type of procedures. Outside of the obvious problems like paralysis, numbness, or epilepsy, a very high percentage of patience have struggled with anxiety/depression/bi-polar/addiction disorders down the road. Surgeons are rooting around in the areas that control things like serotonin and endorphin levels. It's why they avoid surgery at all costs.

It's something I have to keep an eye on. I was treated at Northwestern by some of the best in the world. Ryan is fortunate to get a world renowned surgeon. It's always good to know you are being well taken care of. I just hope he can come out without any major problems. That's the first step.

You may remember when Larry Dierker, the manager of the Astros at the time, had a seizure in the dugout. He also had an AVM and needed to remove the malformed vessels. Here's a little info:

Link (http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=9721)

My procedure was endovascular.

tstrike2000

03-16-2010, 03:35 PM

I was reading about him in Baseball Prospectus. Hopefully, the prognosis is good.

thedudeabides

03-17-2010, 11:16 AM

Early reports are the surgery was successful.

USA TODAY (http://content.usatoday.com/communities/dailypitch/post/2010/03/red-sox-prospect-westmoreland-has-successful-brain-surgery/1)

ESPN (http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb/news/story?id=5001399)

CWSpalehoseCWS

03-17-2010, 03:19 PM