Going through multiple experiences of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in an ambulance, these were Bryan’s struggles from the eyes of a distressed mother.
“We decided to make our home the hospital. There’s a ventilator and a heartbeat monitor in Bryan’s room, all to make sure our boy can safely make it through every night.”
“We even invested in back up power sources, because there was once a blackout that made Bryan accidentally fell asleep,”
“Causing his brain to be completely deprived of oxygen, he woke up with a damaged cerebral cortex and hippocampus.”
“The doctor said these were the most important parts of the brain, responsible for his memory, reasoning, thoughts, decision-making and intelligence.”
“Though we were so thankful to God for giving him another chance to live, we felt so awful to know that sleep has taken away the smart side of him.”
“Since then, we would set an alarm every hour to check on Bryan, because we didn’t want to be the parents who could sleep for a few hours when our poor boy can’t even shut his eyes for 3 seconds.”
“That’s how much we love Bryan. We wanted him to know that we’re in this together.”
– Jody, Bryan’s mum
When Bryan had already turned into a slow learner due to the aftermaths of his rare sleep disorder, he had an extra concern to be worried about besides being unable to learn anything in class. And that was falling asleep in school.
So, Bryan had eyes everywhere he goes. It was necessary for his parents to make sure he doesn’t accidentally fall asleep again, because even a tiny nap could pose another great life risk to him.