Rob’s Story

Site created on May 5, 2018

Welcome to our CaringBridge website.  We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place.  We appreciate all of your prayers and support.  Venerable Mother Clelia Merloni, pray for us!

Rob went to the ER on Monday, April 23rd feeling light headed and experiencing double vision.  Through an MRI, doctors found a small mass on his brain stem that seemed to be pushing on cranial nerves and causing symptoms, like the sixth nerve palsy that is causing his double vision.  His team of doctors performed a myriad of additional tests to diagnose the mass- is it cancer or an infection or a benign tumor?  Meanwhile, Rob's neurological symptoms continued to escalate, most notably with right side weakness, making it difficult to walk, lift his right arm, or use his right hand.

With the rapid appearance of new symptoms and the rest of the tests coming back normal, his doctors determined it was necessary to  biopsy the mass in order to issue the correct treatment .  Unfortunately every millimeter of the brain stem is important,  so it required major brain surgery to open the skull to reach the mass for the biopsy.  Rob underwent an 11-hour surgery on Thursday, May 3rd.  The neurosurgeon was able to identify and biopsy the tumor- it should take about a week to obtain the results.  Rob went to the ICU for recovery and was responsive and communicative, but had significant difficulty breathing.  He was a champion of strength, polite understanding, and even humor with the ICU doctors and nurses; he expressed a witty Star Wars joke on May 4th.  But his body needed rest that it was too strained to get on its own, so he was reintubated and sedated and will have additional tests to ensure recovery from the surgery to keep him strong for when we can build a treatment plan!

Please pray for Rob!  And know that we are praying in thanksgiving for all of our family and friends and entrusting ourselves to God in this difficult time.  Sacred Heart of Jesus, we place our trust in you!

Newest Update

Another Saint in Heaven

Journal entry by Jen Ryan —

Rob died peacefully in his sleep early this morning.

After chemo he had restarted rehab therapies and was back to high-fiving his nurses and techs. On Wednesday night he stopped breathing for some time (due to some kind of neurological event- we don’t know exactly why), but he regained his strength and continued fighting his fight until Jesus welcomed him home this morning.

Throughout everything over the past four months, Rob was incredibly strong and graceful in how he offered up his suffering.

Services: Funeral Mass at Queen of All Saints Catholic Church (6602 Christopher Rd., St. Louis, MO 63129) on Wednesday, Aug. 22 at 10:30am

Visitation Tuesday Aug. 21 at the Church (Queen of All Saints) 4-8pm
Read More of the journal titled "Another Saint in Heaven"
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