Gene had a milestone birthday

On March 25, 2005, Gene celebrated his 50th birthday. He had lots of visitors that day, including Marytheresa and her son Matt, Aunt Pat, Curt, Alan, Joe, Al, Scott, and Barry.

Click here to see the photos from his birthday party.

Gene has moved to Brooklyn

In December, 2007 Gene moved back to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. You can write to him at:
34 Bay Ridge Avenue, #1B
Brooklyn, NY 11220
H (718) 680-2460
C (732) 947-8066 (He keeps his cell with him and is easier for him to answer)

Gene's Progress

Gene's condition has finally been diagnosed as a stroke. For a long time the feeling had been an AVM, but apparently the doctors re-evaluated that diagnosis. Starting in the summer of 2007, Gene has taken a dynamic and aggressive stance on his condition and recovery. With the help of his friend Danny, he got out of the institutionalized living he has known since 2001 and moved into an apartment in his old home neighborhood of Bay Ridge. He has sought out more aggressive treatments and therapies. In the conversations over the past year, Gene has said repeatedly, "I am going to walk again," and I believe him. Gene has a laptop and access to email and the web. You can email him at etwjr@aol.com. Even a short note will brighten his day!

By all means, please visit Gene if you can. Seeing people important to him is tremendously positive to his recovery. As you can imagine, friendly faces of those people Gene knows and loves is very important and very beneficial.

His left side is very, very weak. He has lost quite a bit of weight. He is responsive, eager to see people he loves, and from all indications he recognizes many of his visitors. He does tire during visits, but not as quickly as he did at one point.

If you visit, please write in the journal that I started in Toronto. It is a small, cork-covered journal book. You will find it either in the drawers in the nightstand or on the windowsill. It has become a log of both his progress and his visitors.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. His survival to this point is nothing short of a miracle. We still need your thoughts and prayers.

History

On Tuesday, April 10, 2001, Gene suffered a brain trauma. The doctors labeled it an arteriovenous malformation, which resembles an aneurysm, but no one appears to be sure that it was either of these; he may likely have had a stroke. He was in Toronto, Ontario at the time. Doctors performed surgery immediately, saving his life.

I was in Toronto over Easter weekend of 2001, and I was thankful for the opportunity to see him. Through the rest of April, May, and most of May he was in the Intensive Care Unit of Toronto Western University Hospital, Toronto. There were some very dark days when his kidneys failed, he had several pneumonias and other lung infections, his respiration was poor, and overall conditions were grave.

On June 18, 2001 he was flown to New York, and admitted to Phelps Memorial Hospital's ICU. He was then transferred to NYU Medical Center until about August 27, 2001 when he was transferred to a neurological rehabilitation unit at the Hospital for Joint Diseases.

On or around June 30, 2001 he suffered another bleeding event in his brain. This was not as serious as the first, but does indicate the possibility of a larger condition, which might be the cause of these bleeds. Because of this second bleed, the doctors are now not sure that the first event was actually an arteriovenous malformation, but it's still possible.

He spent time at the Hospital for Joint Diseases and received excellent care before being transferred to Florence Nightingale Rehabilitation Center in November, 2001. In July 2005, Florence Nightingale closed, and Gene moved to Tarrytown Hall, in Tarrytown, NY. In December, 2007 he left the institutionalized setting and moved back to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, where he now lives with his friend, Danny.