“In December 2019, I suffered a stroke and seizures that put me in a comatose state. I was on life support. My family was devastated and confused as to why all of this was happening to me.

“The team of doctors taking care of me in the ICU had to break the news to my mother that I possibly would end up brain dead. Her first thought was, ‘What will I tell my granddaughter, and how will we both overcome this tragedy?’

“Thank God that he had other plans for me and my family. After three days of being unconscious, I woke up. I remember being very confused and unable to speak since I had tubes running down my throat. Everyone in the room just stared at me in awe, as if a miraculous event had just happened. And it did. After medical professionals had informed my family that I probably would never be the same again, there I was. When I got a pen and paper from my mom, there were tears of joy all around the room as they watched me write to communicate my thoughts.

“Since that terrifying incident, I’ve been in and out of hospitals. I have end-stage renal disease. I do dialysis three times per week. I also have lupus nephritis, which attacks the kidneys and other organs. My kidney function is at 5%. So far, my body is not responding well to hemodialysis treatments.

“For more than a year, I have struggled and pushed myself to keep going despite feeling like I wanted to give up because I was tired of suffering. I cried and said to my mother, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I just want to die.’ But my mom hasn’t let me give up. She reminded me to keep pushing for my daughter. My death would change her life forever. She needs her mother more than anything in this world.”

— Cynthia Enderli

Cynthia needs a new kidney, but she faces challenges in getting one. Read more on her GoFundMe page.

The post Mom needs kidney for future with daughter appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“In May 2011, he was in a serious motorcycle accident. The guy who caused the wreck ended up robbing him. He was left down by the bayou, 30 feet from the water. He was unconscious for two weeks in the intensive care unit at Ben Taub Hospital. When he finally came out of the coma, he didn’t know who we were for a couple months.

“Because he had a feeding tube and couldn’t breathe on his own, we had to find a long-term acute care facility for him. He was there for a few weeks until he got a little better and could go to TIRR. He and Gabrielle Giffords, the congresswoman who was shot in the head, were there at the same time. He finally got out that July, and I began taking him to outpatient therapy.

“He had what’s called a diffuse axonal injury, which is a traumatic brain injury. The doctor said he was nothing but a miracle. Because even if he recovered, those 10 percent are usually left in a vegetative state.

“It’s been a long road back. His short-term memory is horrible. He still has severe headaches. But he’s here, and we’re together. That’s what’s most important.”

— Sarah Wright

Sarah and Tyrrell will celebrate their 20-year wedding anniversary on Oct. 2. They run Sarah’s Restaurant, 3321 Market in Baytown.

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• ‘I’m just so determined to make this work’

• Despite major health scares, she’s still cooking

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“One day I told my wife, ‘I don’t feel well. I’m going to lie down and take a nap.’ She was going to school at the time. When she came back from class, she couldn’t wake me up. She told my son to call 911. Next thing they knew, I was in an ambulance heading to Hermann Hospital in Houston.

“I had suffered a brain aneurysm. They had to remove a portion of my skull and do surgery. Afterwards, they put me in a medically induced coma. I was out of it for seven months.

“When I came to and they brought me home to recover, they had me in a hospital bed by a window so I could see out. Eventually, I went from a wheelchair to a walker to crutches to a cane. I was doing physical therapy at a rehab place in Baytown that we just loved. They were so good to me. Every day, they had me do a little bit more.

The post Brain aneurysm, coma survivor points to prayer appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I have run 25 marathons and 76 ultra-marathons. As of Jan. 1, including all my races and training, I have run 30,875 miles. But it’s not the long distance that kills you. It’s the short distance.

“I was entered in a 3,000-meter race on June 9, 2012, at Rice University. I had no idea that anything was wrong with me. In January, I had won a U.S.A. Track and Field 100-kilometer race for my age. In February, I did the Rocky Raccoon 100-Mile Trail Run at Huntsville State Park. In March, I won a U.S.A. Track and Field 50-mile mountain race. In April, I ran the Relay for Life here in Baytown. In May, I ran in the Boxrox Marathon in central Texas in 95 degrees on rugged trails. So I survived all of that.

“Then June 9 came, and I was lined up for 3,000 meters. I ran through the finish, then I started walking and cooling down. I don’t remember anything that happened after that. Nothing. I had collapsed and died. My heart was not beating for up to 50 minutes, is what the doctor said.

“John Bryant, a friend of mine on our ExxonMobil track team, was there within one minute to begin doing CPR. He continued until Station 33 arrived from Houston, and they used the paddles to get my heart beating again. My wife met me at the hospital. She felt my ankles and said there was a tiny, little heart beat there. That was about two hours later.

“The doctors decided to put me in a medical coma. By the sixth day, they disconnected the EEG monitor because there was no data coming out of it. On the seventh day, they asked my wife for permission to disconnect me from life support. What she said was, ‘If you do that, he’ll just be on his own.’ So they didn’t do it. And I woke up at 6 o’clock the very next morning.”

— Bob Botto, 67

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• He enjoys running for a cancer-fighting cause
• Chemistry experiment lands him a wife for life

The post Marathoner survives cardiac arrest to run another day appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I was in sixth grade when my friend’s parents picked me up from school one day and took me to the hospital. They told me that my dad wasn’t feeling well. He was the toughest guy ever, so I knew if he was at the hospital it probably wasn’t good. He had a stroke and a ruptured brain aneurysm. He wasn’t supposed to make it.

“It happened a week after he turned 50. That was 10 years ago this March. He was in a coma for a little over a month. He’s had several setbacks since then, but he keeps on persevering. He can’t use his right side and he can’t talk beyond saying yes or no. But he’s still here and he’s stable. You can’t ask for too much more.”

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• He dreams of becoming a fishing, hunting guide

The post His dad perseveres following stroke, aneurysm appeared first on The Baytown Project.