This is an emailfrom Cathy and Kevin Duffy updating their friends about
their son and our Bulldog family member Ryan Duffy. Please pray for
Ryan.
Gene
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Friends,
Cathy and I wanted
to make you aware of a terrible situation that we are dealing with right
now. Late last night Ryan was down in Key West and was out with
friends. He either fell or dove off a dock around 4am. Unfortunately
the landing was very shallow and Ryan has sustained a serious neck
injury.
Three of the small triangle shaped vertebrae in Ryan's
neck were broken, with one compressing against another. With the
compression the spinal cord was injured. Ryan was air lifted to Jackson
Memorial in Miami and surgery was performed at noon. In a 4 hour
surgery the broken vertebrae were removed. They confirmed that the
spinal cord was injured, not cut or broken. There were 2 or 3 abrasions
to the cord that were repaired with Nuva, a synthetic like material
that they say is like super glue. The space where the vertebrae was
removed was replaced by 2 screws.
The surgery was a success and
we were able to visit Ryan this evening. When we saw him this morning
before surgery it was about as bad as you could imagine. Several of his
friends were able to see him before surgery and cheered him up as best
as they could. This evening Ryan was moving his chin, his mouth, and
his neck. We think he squeezed a shoulder muscle, but we aren't sure.
No other motion at this point. The doctor was as expected non
committal, so we just have to pray things improve. Monday they plan to
take out the tube to his chest for breathing and they will be
encouraging him to constantly try to move different parts of his body.
We
appreciate your prayers and best wishes for Ryan's recovery. I will
keep you posted as I know more. He is a strong young man and I know he
will do everything he can to return to normal.
Kevin and Cathy
