Alan Godwin

[Mark Stackhouse]

Many of you know Alan Godwin, an excellent birder and member of the 
Utah birding community who moved to Kansas a few years ago to join the 
faculty of the University of Kansas. I just recently received some sad 
news about Alan which I would like to share with all those who know 
him.

Alan's mom called me with news that Alan has suffered a cerebral 
aneurism. The doctors think the bleeding started on February 8, but he 
wasn't taken to the hospital until the 11th. By that time, the pressure 
in his brain was "off the meter" and he crashed as soon as they got him 
through the door of the ICU. By some miracle, they were able to bring 
him back. He underwent two surgeries to repair the aneurism, and 
suffered 4 strokes after surgery. Luckily, none of the strokes were 
apparently serious. He was in the neural ICU for 17 days. He left the 
ICU last Monday, is breathing on his own, and (you can see Alan doing 
this) pulled out the feeding tube on his own.

His mother is very upbeat about his progress after several weeks of 
nothing but bad news. Alan is awake, can talk (though she says it take 
a huge mental effort on his part), and remembers many things, with more 
coming every day. Apparently he remembers most of his birds :-). He has 
full use of his left side, but only partial use of his right side. The 
doctors say it will take six months to know exactly what he'll get back 
and what he's lost. His Mom says that he gets a bit better every day.

If you'd like to contact Alan's mother directly or send a card or 
flowers, etc., I have phone numbers and his address. Please contact me 
directly for this.

Mark Stackhouse
Westwings, Inc.
westwings at sisna.com
801-487-9453 (Salt Lake City, Utah, USA)
011-52-323-285-1243 (San Blas, Nayarit, Mexico)

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