Kevin Ripley’s Story

Greely’s own little Kevin Ripley’s story started back in May 2002 when he was just under 5 years old. He had tripped on his own feet and fell on his left hand. His hand was not broken, however it didn’t seem to be getting better. His parents knew something wasn’t right. But who could be ready for what they would hear – their little boy was diagnosed with an inoperable brain stem tumor. The unsteadiness and weak hand were related to the tumor pressing on his brain. About a month after the diagnosis, Kevin began getting lethargic. It was found that the tumor had grown and was displacing one of his brain ventricles thus preventing it from draining the brain fluid. By early July he had to have a shunt implanted to drain the brain fluid properly. He went through six weeks of radiation that summer. What a rough path for anyone to go down, especially a little boy.

Kevin was doing fine until last winter when the cancer came back. Early in January, Kevin started experiencing headaches along with vomiting. On January 20, 2007 Kevin had an emergency operation to remove another brain tumor. This time the tumor had bled which caused displacement in the brain which in turn ended up affecting his right facial and left body functions.

Sadly, Kevin passed away on June 20, 2007. He is missed by all who knew him.

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