Help for my Brother who has had a stroke

My brother is 48 years of age and on the 27 December 2006 he suffered a major stoke which has affected 2/3rds of his left hemisphere resulting in no movement on the right hand side of his body, no speech, unable to swallow and we believe possible inability to read.

Prior to his stoke he felt unwell for a couple of days and was diagnosed as having gastroenteritis by his GP. He had no previous history of high blood pressure or cholesterol and he does not drink or smoke. The stroke was caused by a blood clot and he was immediately prescribed aspirin upon admittance to A&E.

Further tests (CT and MRI scans) were taken and they showed swelling on the brain, where the stroke had taken place, for which a steroid was prescribed.

Initially after the Stroke, he was very drowsy, very unaware of his surroundings and of people around him, this lasted for about 5/6 days and he finally gained full consciousness on New Years day.

This was when we first discovered the extent of the stroke.

Despite the fact that he could not speak he was able, at this stage, to nod and shake his head in response to closed questions and he would put out his left hand to friends and relatives visiting him to acknowledge them and hold their hand during the visit.

The hospital began to give him physiotherapy trying to get him to regain balance and to sit and stand of his own accord, he found this very tiring. They also tried speech therapy with tongue exercises and simple words and alphabet / number charts. He went through bouts of emotional changes and was often upset and frustrated with the situation.

Unfortunately, the aspirin and steroids created more complications.

Upon passing a stool there was slight bleeding which the hospital staff were aware of and monitoring. But on the 31 January 2007 the bleeding became more serious and regular. He began to lose massive amounts of blood which was as a result of an ulcer in his rectum caused by the aspirin. He had to have an operation to sew the bleeding ulcer and was given 14 units of blood.

Further complications set in as he received the blood, he ended up with fluid on the lungs which made it difficult for him to breathe, he then suffered a major heart attack and ended up in Intensive Care for just over a week. Whilst in Intensive Care he was heavily sedated, on a ventilator and on medication for his blood pressure to keep him stable.

He finally came out of Intensive Care on the 9 February but now had pneumonia.

Luckily, the pneumonia is now under control, and his breathing is much better, the only medication he is on now is via a nebulisor for the pneumonia as and when he needs it.

We are now at a stage where he is neurologically at a worse stage than he was originally after his stroke. He is very drowsy and sleepy and there is no response to our questions, he does hold our hands and squeeze but there is no focus or acknowledgement that was present previous to the added complications.

We have been advised that as he was on a ventilator in intensive care this has further starved his brain of oxygen hence why he is less responsive now than before.

The hospital is treating him as a special case because he is so young. They do not know if this is as good as he is going to get or whether time will heal him further.

My brother’s consultant has said that he is happy for us to investigate into his condition and look into any research and go back to him with anything that we may come across and feel may help the given situation.

Please can you advise whether there is anything that can help?