Randy

 

 This is my brother Randy.

Randy is about the most special person I know.

He is the oldest out of us 4 kids.

And he was a normal, energetic, blonde 4 year old boy, who loved his baby brother Jeff, sesame street, super grover, and zebras.

Then he got sick.

He got a high fever and started having seizures.

To stop the seizures at the hospital, they put him in a drug induced coma.

By the time they brought him out of the coma, Randy was changed.

 

They aren't sure if it was the fever, the seizures, or the coma, but Randy went from a spunky little kid, to one with major disabilities. He could no longer talk. He could no longer go to the bathroom by himself and had to wear diapers. He had trouble eating so they placed a tube into his stomach.

And he still had seizures EVERY. DAY.

 

Fast forward to today. Randy is 35. He has been dealing with all of this everyday for the last 31 years. So have my parents.

My brothers and I grew up, not knowing Randy any differently, but loving him just the same.

Randy is our hero.

A truly selfless, caring, loving, humble, celestial being.

And we wish we were a little more like him.

Randy has taught us so many things, like Patience. Humility. Service. Love. Compassion. Strength.

 

Today, Randy went in to have brain surgery.

He has many different types of seizures every day still.

The doctors think that this operation will be the one to stop the most dangerous of the seizures. Those are his "drop" seizures. The ones that have made it so Randy cant walk anymore. Because if he stands up and then has a seizure it takes him down to the ground and has been responsible for breaking many of his brittle bones.

The surgery they are doing scares me. They are splitting the hemispheres of his brain hoping that that stops his drop seizures.

This could go one of 3 ways.

Either he stays the same and we put him through a horrible surgery for nothing.

He could get worse. The surgery wouldn't have worked and made it so he had less freedom and makes life harder for him and my parents.

Or he could get better. He could stop having the horribly unpredictable and dangerous seizures, and gain mobility back in his legs, and be able to give him more freedom.

 

We are hoping and praying for the best.

I sure love that brother of mine.