Mhyrun Hurst Junior may be sitting tall in the saddle now, but a while back things were a little different.
25 News Anchor Todd Unger spotlights the incredible doctors and work being done at McLane Children’s Hospital as they helped Mhyrun navigate a life-threatening stroke.
All week long, 25 News is spotlighting powerful stories of survival and recovery as part of Children’s Hospital Week.
Mhyrun Hurst Junior may be sitting tall in the saddle now, but a while back things were a little different.
"I was sitting in town on my dad's shop, my left side had kind of started feeling numb and my speech on the left side, it kind of got a little bit droopy," said Hurst.
Mhyrun then did what any kid would do … he called mom.
"I got a phone call from Mhyrun telling me that he didn't have any feeling on his left side and that it felt funny," said Hurst. "He said his speech was slurred, told him to take an aspirin, and see if that would help and to give me a call back if it didn't help."
For about two weeks, all seemed fine and Mhyrun went on with his daily activities. But then … mom gets another call from him.
"Hey Mom ... I'm having that same feeling again," said Hurst. "And I'm like, you know, this is strange."
This time, an aspirin didn’t work and mom was so concerned she took him to the doctor, and eventually he saw a neurologist who gave them news they weren’t prepared to hear.
"[It was] an acute stroke," said Dr. Kaiser. "He had problems with numbness and tingling in his arms, I went over the images with them, explain to them show them what was going on."
And what was going on was serious.
"Moyamoya, which stands for puff of smoke, which just means that the carotid arteries in my brain got clogged up, which wouldn't allow me to get the right amount of blood flow directly to my brain," said Mhyrun.
And the next step was an eight-hour surgery that sounded complicated.
"They were going to do a direct bypass from one vein that sits by my ear directly to the lay over the top of my brain to allow that blood to pump directly there," said Mhyrun.
Without fear, Mhyrun then put his life in the hands of the surgeons.
"Always knew that going into surgery, I was going to be blessed to come out in a healthy manner, knowing that God was going to be by my side through the whole process," said Mhyrun.
And throughout the process, Mhyrun was surrounded by family and friends who prayed for him and his medical team. He was even comforted by a prayer blanket that reminded him that he was not alone on his journey.
"We just trusted God and with his faith, you know, it encouraged us to you know, just fight and hang on," said Hurst.
Months later, Mhyrun with rope in hand is once again sitting tall in the saddle hoping to lasso a bright future… a future he has because of one special person and on special place where miracles are made.
"Dr. Kaiser is amazing she knew what she was talking about," said Mr. Hurst. "The care that they gave every child is just it's just unbelievable, that hospital is phenomenal."
