A Celebration of Life

Tyler's 'Celebration of Life' will be at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, 1402 W. Main St, Carmel, Indiana 46032 on Monday, November 10, at 6:00pm. We will have a reception at the same location immediately following the service. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to Habitat for Humanity in Tyler's name.

Thank you to everyone for sending your love, prayers and positive energy to Ty and my family. Being a witness to the great love and respect everyone has for him is truly a blessing. He will live on in all of our memories and in our hearts.

He is at peace, but I will never be the same

Our grandmother and two aunts came in at around 11:00pm, all the way from Canada. They said their goodbyes and we all cried together. Various friends of Tyler's came in yesterday and today to visit him, and more have yet to arrive. He is so loved by every person that his life has touched. That's the kind of guy he......................was......

Tyler Fulton Ward, age 36, was taken off artificial life support at approximately 1:00am on Thursday, November 6, 2008. He passed away at 2:11am with his family of origin and some of his chosen family by his side, holding his hands, his arms, his legs, and his toes. I watched the life slip away from him, as I held his hand and rubbed his face. I told him we were all there with him, told him how much we love him, and told him that it was ok for him to go...whenever he was ready. He was ready. I think he was just waiting for permission. As I told him earlier tonight, I will be ok and my life will go on, but I will never be the same.

As soon as my family makes the plans and arrangements for the memorial service, I will post that information on this blog. Please feel free to share the blog address or memorial information with anyone you think may want to know. Thank you all for caring about my baby brother. He was truly an amazingly wonderful man and I will miss him forever.

The brilliance

Here I stand, my shadow cast upon the brilliance of this red foliage. I spotted it as we were driving back from the hospital and it reminded me of the brilliance of Tyler. Not only his intellect, but his personality, his sense of humor, his kindness, his love...I could go on and on about the brilliance of him. He has touched many lives. It has been a blessing to have him as a brother and a best friend. I am only a shadow of myself today, knowing that I have to say goodbye to him...

We were told today by the neurosurgeon, as we looked at the latest MRI pictures, that there is no hope of recovery for Tyler. He will not wake up and be himself ever again. If we keep him alive with machines and tubes, he will have no quality of life and we know he doesn't want that. Tonight at midnight we will watch as the doctors and nurses remove the artificial life support and then we will hold his hands and wait. We will let him know he is loved, he will be missed forever, and that it's ok for him to go.

I love you, Tyler Fulton Ward. We all do and you will be with us, in our hearts, forever.

Impossible news

It is with great sadness that I write this update. It was determined today, based on MRI results, that Tyler is in a permanent vegetative state. The front portion of his brain has been severely damaged by a massive stroke. My Indy parents are waiting to talk to the neurologist before making any decisions. None of us were prepared for this scenario. It just wasn't an option. I'm in shock and I know anyone reading this is experiencing the same reaction. I don't even know how to ingest this news. How did this happen??? My Dad and step-mom are heading back to Indianapolis, and I'm sure I won't be far behind. More later...

Hope, tenacity and stubborness

This is Tyler giving me a peace sign, or a gang sign, or as my partner Martine tells me, it means something completely different in Australia...something we associate with the middle finger. :-) At any rate, when he held his two fingers up to me in August when we were visiting our grandmother in Edmonton, I knew it was meant to be nice gesture. We had a great time hanging out together during that trip. I am even more grateful for that time now...

The stroke Tyler had occurred in the frontal part of his brain, on both sides. The blood vessels were "spasming" and they don't know why. There seems to be no explanation as to why this was happening in a part of his brain that was not touched during the surgery. Ron told me it's an area of his brain that controls the lower part of his body. It's POSSIBLE (nothing definite here) that he will lose the use of his legs. They are doing an MRI today to determine the extent of the damage. I still remain hopeful that Tyler can overcome whatever damage has been done to his body, through rehabilitation and tenacity. Most of us know how stubborn he is and that will work in his favor throughout his recovery process. Peace and love.

We wait for news and keep the faith

This morning I got a call from Dad telling me that Tyler has had a stroke. We still don't know what caused it or the extent of the damage done, so again we wait...wait for news from the doctors. They did a series of tests on him today, including an angiogram. They need to determine whether the stroke was caused by an aneurism, a hemmorhage, a blood clot, or....?

I met a woman tonight who told me she had brain surgery about a year ago. I believe she said she had an aneurism. She was out of the hospital in 4 days, but she is just now, a year later, feeling fully recovered. She said it was an exhausting and frustrating process, but she gave me hope...

I was told that he opened his eyes today, but did not squeeze when his hand was held. I wanted to include this photo sent by his friend, Ruth, because it portrays the Tyler we all know and love. We know you are in there, Ty, and we know you are fighting to get better. We are all with you, some of us in body and some in spirit. Keep fighting!!! We miss you!

A pat, a squeeze and a grab

Sorry there was no Halloween post. Tyler spent most of yesterday sleeping, but I did hear a bit of news when Martine and I were on our way to a Halloween party. Tyler was patting the heads, squeezing the noses and grabbing the hands of his late evening visitors. They were very happy to see his personality coming out after a day of non-responsiveness.

Tyler's fever continues to be a challenge and they are now calling it a central fever. It's most likely related to his brain trying to heal itself, rather than an infection. They moved all of his IV lines yesterday, just to be sure the fever wasn't being caused by a site infection. He's not very responsive again today. The fever is causing fatigue and he's also probably a little sleep-deprived. His body is demanding that he rest!

They will be doing another CT scan tomorrow just to check on his progress. The fluid draining from his brain is getting "clearer" which COULD mean he won't need a permanent shunt.

That's all I have for now. Thanks for reading, and for continuing to send out your thoughts and prayers for Tyler. Peace and love.