Russ’s Story

Site created on October 12, 2019

In June 2018 Russ had a seizure and we discovered he has a cavernous malformation, or an abnormal clump of blood vessels in his brain, which had started to bleed. With the help of the amazing neurology team at Wake Forest and medication, he never had another seizure and his condition was under control. On Thursday October 10 Russ had a series of seizures while home alone. He was transported to the hospital in Boone where he went into cardiac arrest for 6-8 minutes and had more seizures. They were able to revive and stabilize him. He had a CAT scan to see if he had a new bleed in his brain and they think he had a small new bleed. He then was airlifted to Wake Forest University Baptist Hospital. During his episode he aspirated some vomit which badly damaged his lungs. When he arrived at Baptist, he was in lung failure. He was put on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine (ECMO machine) to help oxygenate his blood. It sounds like he will remain at the ICU in Baptist for several weeks at the least.

Newest Update

Journal entry by Selby Graves

Merry Christmas everyone! We wanted to take a minute and say how thankful we are for each and every one of you. Statistically, Russ is not supposed to be here with us. Back in October the doctors had told us to call everyone and tell them to come to Winston Salem to say goodbye. Through the power of prayer and positive thoughts, and the amazing medical team at Baptist, Russ not only lived but made a full and complete recovery. This would not have been possible without you. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. We will never be able to pay back the outpouring of love and support we have received and we are truly grateful. 

We also have some more good news to share. As many of you know, Russ proposed last weekend and I said yes. We are excited to finally start planning a wedding, even though it probably won't be until 2021. So thank you again for your continued love and support, we don't know where we would be without y'all.
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