Charlie Stephans

On Wednesday, May 10th, Charlie had a typical morning of breakfast and play.  He wanted to go to the playground instead of daycare, so he was a bit upset. We noticed these tears were not the common toddler tears, as he couldn’t focus or verbalize his sadness and his extremities were not controlled.  We called 911 and were taken to Children’s Hospital in St. Louis.

A CT of the head confirmed that Charlie suffered a hemorrhagic stroke.  An angiogram later confirmed it was caused by an Arteriovenous Malformation (AVM) rupture.  The AVM is congenital, formed during fetal development.

He was taken to surgery for a Ventriculostomy.  In this surgery, they placed a drain in the skull that drains spinal fluid and helps alleviate the pressure (intracranial pressure - ICP) within the skull.

On Sunday, after monitoring Charlie’s ICP for 4 days, the pediatric neurosurgeons took him to the OR at Barnes to perform a craniotomy and resection of the AVM and blood clot.  The surgery went very well.  Charlie is currently recovering in the PICU.  

The plan now is to gently wean him from sedation during the recovery while monitoring the ICP.   He will move to an inpatient floor, then ultimately Rehab.

We appreciate all of the love and support we have received.  Murphy is “king of the world” at Gigi and Pop’s and loving every minute of it.  We are very lucky to have this type of support system.  

There is a long road ahead of us but we are hopeful and know Charlie is a tough little bear.  We will continue to share information on Charlie's journey with this site.

With love,
Nick, Erin, Charlie and Murphy