(soft music)
>> My garage, that's my second home you know.
I don't actually live here so I live in the garage.
But working on my car, it helps me
and that's my passion.
Working on my little '79 Trans Am.
Maybe that played a part in my recovery,
I really think it did.
About a year ago I started having headaches.
They were pretty bad headaches
and I knew something else was wrong.
>> We decided to look for
a neurologist here in Virginia.
They decided to do another MRI and which they did
and it actually showed the AVM,
and he shared with us that it was some
aneurysms there as well because of the AVM.
>> A brain Arteriovenous Malformation or an AVM for short
is an abnormal tangle of blood vessels in the brain.
There are various grading classifications for these that
really predict how severe they can be or particularly
how complicated the surgery can be to remove these.
In William's case, he had the highest grade
which was a grade five AVM.
>> I decided to let's go online and start looking at
different doctors, different hospitals.
We together did some research.
Typed in "top 10 hospitals for brain surgery"
and Hopkins was number one.
>> An AVM as complicated as William's really has
many aspects that we need to deal with when thinking
about how to treat this.
There's the AVM itself but also, there can be
other components of the AVM that make it higher risk
such as an aneurysm.
Before we ever take a patient to surgery we really want
to make sure that surgery is as safe
as it possibly can be.
So in William's case we brought him in several times
to preform what's called an Embolization where we can
close down blood supply to both the AVM as well as
to aneurysms associated with an AVM and this is all done
in a minimally invasive way.
It's all done through the blood vessels.
We access the blood vessel in the leg and then
we're able to get all the way up to the brain
and take care of something like this.
And a procedure that's typically very well tolerated and
often the patient goes home the next day or the day after.
>> The first procedure started in July and the last one
was in December.
The major surgery was in January 12th.
>> So in January William had a surgical procedure
called a Craniotomy which means that we made an opening
in the skull to be able to get to the brain
and to remove the AVM.
These procedures are long tedious surgeries where we
decrease the blood supply to the Arteriovenous Malformation
and that enables us to then resect the entire thing
really providing him a cure.
>> Rosalyn: He told us what to expect
once the surgery was completed.
That he might not remember some things right away.
That part of the brain might affect that he couldn't talk
You know, might be to the point
that he couldn't think how to walk.
>> The surgery was successful.
>> He hasn't had a--
>> William: Not one headache since.
>> Not one headache and actually,
knew who everybody was right away.
The swelling went down just it's supposed to,
it wasn't a long delay on that.
His... >> Hair grew back.
>> Rosalyn: Yeah it grew back quickly.
>> William: For the most part.
>> Fortunately William did very well.
Despite having the highest grade AVM, or a grade five AVM,
which really would put him at risk for having
significant complications from the surgery, he did great.
He spent a few days in the hospital and then went home
and was able to return to his normal life.
>> Hopkins did so much support and experience
and certainly fun to be able to get back to my car
and continue to enjoy as I have before the surgery.
My yard, I love my yard.
Can't forget my wife, she's been great through all of this.
She's really been great.
To talk about support I don't think I could have
went through this without this woman right here,
she's really been awesome and she continues right today
to support me 100%.
To have her with me has really been good.
(gentle music)