a team
effort
Ryan Ranft made a miraculous recovery from
a traumatic brain injury thanks to his trauma
J
team and support from his friends and family.
enny and Jim
Ranft were out
of town in May
2013 when they
received a call from
their 16-year-old son’s
number. But it wasn’t
their son on the other
end. It was one of his
friends telling them
that Ryan had been
in an accident and
was unconscious
and bleeding from his
head. Jenny asked
if he had called 911
and he said yes. She
then told him to make
sure they took Ryan to
Advocate Lutheran
General Hospital,
and immediately tried
to find the fastest way
home from California.
When Ryan arrived in the emergency department,
the trauma team was standing by to assess his injuries.
Scans showed that Ryan had a traumatic brain injury that
included a crack in his skull and severe swelling. Doctors
continued to monitor Ryan and administered medicine
to try to bring down the pressure on his brain. The initial
prognosis was not good.
Back in California while en route to the airport, Jim
was able to speak with the physicians at the hospital as
well as one of the paramedics. It was then he realized the
seriousness of Ryan’s injuries. “I could hear the urgency
in the paramedic’s voice,” remembers Jim. “He told me to
get there as soon as possible—that Ryan’s spinal fluid was
leaking and his head injuries were severe.”
The frantic parents boarded a plane not knowing if their
son was even going to make it through the night. Because
Jim is a Chicago firefighter, he knew that Lutheran General
Hospital is a Level I Trauma Center. So they were confident
that Ryan would be in the hands of the best trauma
physicians and surgeons in the area.
2 – healing gifts – Spring 2014
The waiting
game
Ryan’s parents arrived
at the hospital the next
morning to see about
30 friends and family
members gathered
and were finally able
to learn the extent of
their son’s injuries.
Traumatic brain injuries
can cause a host of
physical, cognitive,
social, emotional and
behavioral effects,
and outcomes can
range from complete
recovery to permanent
disability or death. So
the physicians were
not able to provide the
family with any longterm prognosis until they saw how things progressed.
Ryan had been transferred to the surgical intensive
care unit for continued monitoring. By the next afternoon,
Ryan’s brain was still swelling. Doctors decided to put
Ryan into a medically induced coma and inserted a drain
into his head to try to reduce the cranial pressure. After
36 hours, they started to bring Ryan out of the coma only
to have his level start to rise again. He was put back into
a coma for more than a week.
“Ryan’s caregivers were very supportive and
comforting, but very honest with us,” remembers Jenny.
“They always explained what they were doing and why.
We were so grateful for the care Ryan received.”
Critical care nurse Kathy Voss, RN, spent a lot of
time with the Ranft family during Ryan's stay at the
hospital. “We strive to provide a holistic approach to care
for the whole family, not just the patient,” she says. “The
Ranfts rarely left Ryan’s bedside. We wanted to make
sure that everyone in the family was cared for physically
and emotionally.”