Grayson Russell P.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
By: Kelley P.

Survivor

When the ER doctor told us in April of 2010 that our then two, now three ‐year‐old son had suffered several small strokes, it simply did not register. We took Grayson to the ER on a Sunday afternoon when he would not stop crying and could not stand up. Because his blood pressure readings were off the charts, they decided to do a CT scan. To everyone's surprise, the scan revealed that Grayson had recently suffered several strokes. After a lengthy hospital stay, the strokes were attributed to high blood pressure caused by renal artery stenosis. We were sent home with several prescriptions and a very happy little boy. About five months later, Grayson had another, more serious stroke. This time tests revealed evidence of Moyamoya syndrome, a rare condition causing thickening of the carotid arteries, which can (and in Grayson's case did) lead to strokes and transient ischemic attacks. While there is no cure for Moyamoya, it can be a treatable cause of stroke in children. Grayson underwent indirect bypass surgery to treat the Moyamoya at Children's Hospital in Boston in November 2010. We are lucky that Grayson had very minimal physical impact from the strokes. While we are not 100% certain of Grayson's underlying condition and do not consider ourselves out of the woods yet, the more information that is available the better. If Grayson's story can help another patient going through something similar, or shed some light on rare vascular conditions, we are happy to share it.