Adventist Health Glendale | Healthline Quarterly | Summer 2018

XXXXXXXXX “I received the images and felt Brandon had a chance,” Dr. Grigoryan explains. “We don’t apply universal protocol to patients when it comes to strokes—never ever. It takes thinking outside the box, and we had a different opinion (from the other hospital). I told the MIKAYEL GRIGORYAN, MD, was writing up notes after hospital rounds when he received the call. It had been a routine Friday morning for Dr. Grigoryan, an interventional neurologist at Adventist Health Glendale, but that was about to quickly change. A fellow neurologist from a San Gabriel Valley hospital was on the phone; a story of a life in danger was about to unfold. Brandon Stott, superintendent for a construction company, lay nearly motionless and unable to speak in that hospital’s emergency room. Images of his brain revealed the unimaginable. At age 33, this robust young man was ex- periencing a life-threatening stroke. A large clot in a major vessel was blocking blood flow to the left side of Brandon’s brain. “The patient was not a candidate for tPA, the clot-busting medicine given through an IV,” Dr. Grigoryan explains, “and the imaging studies they performed suggested that it was too late to do an intervention— attempting to unclog the vessel. Few hospitals in the Los Angeles area have that capability.” Brandon’s wife, Nora, vividly remembers that day. It was just before their daughter Jayden’s fifth birthday and a family celebration at Disneyland. Thoughts of life without her husband and the father of their three children seemed unbearable. His only chance That’s when Dr. Grigoryan got the call. “The emergency room doctor and neurologist felt that Brandon deserved an aggressive treatment—he was only 33 years old!” Dr. Grigoryan says. “But his only chance was being transported ASAP to another hospital that [could do] the procedure.” Adventist Health Glendale was that hospital, widely respected as one of Southern California’s leading Comprehensive Stroke Centers, skilled in advanced lifesaving procedures performed by Dr. Grigoryan and neurosurgeon Yaser Badr, MD. Thrombectomy is the medical term for removing clots from the brain, or unclogging the vessels. A tiny catheter with a wire inside is delicately guided from the leg to the brain, where it penetrates the clot and removes it by retrieval or suction. Stroke team’s ‘can-do spirit’ was Brandon’s best chance A young life saved Mikayel Grigoryan, MD, and Brandon Stott—on the road to recovery Brandon Stott with his wife Nora and two of their children, Jayden and Brandon Jr., with Mikayel Grigoryan, MD. family that without this intervention, Brandon would probably die or become profoundly disabled.” ‘No guarantee’ Penny Stott, Brandon’s mother, remembers those words. “Dr. Grigoryan was honest; he said he’d try. There was no guarantee, but he was actu- ally going to do something.” Brandon was transported to Adventist Health Glendale, and by late afternoon, a stroke team led by Dr. Grigoryan successfully extracted a blood clot nearly 4¾ inches long ! During the next four days in the ICU, Brandon slipped in and out of awareness. Then, what happened amazed those around him. Speech therapists often help stroke patients learn to speak again by singing songs—simple nursery rhymes. And so it was that, as if a light bulb clicked on in his brain, Brandon remembered that Jayden was turn- ing five years old. With tears streaming down his face, he quietly sang “Happy Birthday.” “I cried,” Penny says. “Everyone cried. It was a miracle.” Within a few days, Brandon was up and walking. And on discharge day from the medical center’s physical medicine and rehabilitation unit, he and Dr. Grigoryan were walking briskly down the hallways. Doing great Brandon’s speech is still a work in progress, but he’s improving each day, Nora reports. “He’s doing great, getting his energy back and look- ing forward to returning to work.” As for the family’s feeling about Brandon’s experience at Adventist Health Glendale, they are absolutely glowing. “An amazing hospital— people are incredibly nice; they’re genuine,” Penny says. “What a fan- tastic experience we had in the ICU and rehabilitation. We will never forget it.” Nora is quick to add: “Aside from saving Brandon’s life, Dr. Grigoryan has become part of our family. We appreciate him so much. We wouldn’t go anywhere else.” And did Brandon and his family finally make it to Disneyland for Jayden’s birthday? Belatedly for sure, but what a celebration that was! 6 STROKE CARE