March 13, 2010

Ryan Westmoreland To Undergo Brain Surgery On Tuesday

Jon Heyman tweets that one of the Red Sox's top prospects, 19-year-old outfielder Ryan Westmoreland
was diagnosed with a cavernous malformation in his brain and is having surgery
The Herald's John Tomase adds that
According to the team, Westmoreland departed camp on March 4. He was diagnosed the next day at Massachusetts General Hospital, had consultations with three leading experts in the field, and on Tuesday will have surgery performed by Dr. Robert Spetzler of the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix.

According to the Toronto Brain Vascular Malformation Study Group, cavernous malformations are not a cancer, so they do not spread. Cavernous malformations are a cluster of abnormally dilated blood vessels that resemble raspberries, and they are typically less than three centimeters in size.

Symptoms often include headaches and sometimes seizures, with the most serious cases resulting in a hemorrhage. It's unclear what symptoms, if any, Westmoreland was experiencing.
Theo Epstein:
The entire Red Sox organization stands in support of Ryan as he courageously deals with this issue. Ryan is a remarkable kid and a talented player, and we understand that many will be concerned about his health. He is getting the best medical attention the world has to offer, and we will have more information soon. Until then - out of respect for Ryan's privacy and at the request of the Westmoreland family - we will not have any further comment.
A bit more info on cavernous brain malformations here and here.

That's some scary shit for a teenager to deal with. Best wishes for a successful recovery.

6 comments:

laura k said...

"Cavernous malformation" does not sound like something you want in your brain.

That's a lot for a 19-year-old to cope with. We can only wish him well and hope for good news.

(And what would a Red Sox season be without a cancer boy??)

(I know it's not cancer, but you know what I mean.)

tim said...

That is fucked.

Hoping for all the best for this dude, only thing I know about him is that he was mentioned in the Halladay rumours last july...sounds like a dece prospect though.

Ric said...

He might have HHT - Hereditary Hemorraghic telangectasia - a vascular disorder that can cause this type of malformation in the lung, and liver as well as the brain. It affects about 1 in 5,000. My dad has it. It is often misdiagnosed - stoke and other serious complications are common - but a simple genetic test can reveal if a person has it. There are 8 centers in the country, including one at Yale. For more info see www.hht.org

Jere said...

I know Pete Abe likes to joke around and stuff, but this line is odd:


"That right there sure looks like your Opening Day lineup doesn't it? Those nine players for sure, maybe a different order. .The lineups:

RED SOX (7-3)
Ellsbury CF
Pedroia 2B
Youkilis 1B
Ortiz DH
Hermida RF
Scutaro SS
Varitek C
Hall 3B
Reddick LF"

Hermida, Tek, Hall, and Reddick in the OD lineup? He usually really tips you off when he's joking, so I think he just fucked up here. Anyway, no technical diffs for NESN yet today, but there's time.

Bosox Fan in Wichita said...

This was the lineup I thought he was talking about -

RED SOX (6-3)
Jacoby Ellsbury LF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Victor Martinez C
Kevin Youkilis 1B
David Ortiz DH
J.D. Drew RF
Adrian Beltre 3B
Mike Cameron CF
Marco Scutaro SS

Jere said...

Ahh, that makes sense--he must have copied the previous day's notes into the next days by mistake. I saw that he removed it from the wrong day--now I see it there for the previous game. Thanks, Good Wich.