DazeVlog

A police officer from Pennsylvania who suffered a heart attack and serious brain injury following a bee sting is not expected to recover, his family has said.

Ryan Allen, a father of young two boys, was stung by a bee on October 14, 2021, and went into an anaphylactic shock despite having no history of an allergy to bee stings. The Montgomery County K9 police officer was clinically dead for twenty minutes before he was revived by EMTs.

The lack of oxygen to his brain during this time led to an anoxic brain injury, which the Shephard Center, a non-profit hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, says results when oxygen deprivation causes the death of brain cells.

Allen then spent seven weeks in intensive care, four of which he was in a coma. The police officer's wife, Whitney Allen, said in a Facebook post on Saturday that her husband's doctors have told her there is "no chance" he will make a recovery in any "meaningful way."

She wrote: "This is a very painful post to write but I know I have to be transparent as many of you have been following Ryan's story since his medical emergency in October.

"The last couple of weeks we have been processing new information concerning Ryan and his prognosis and making impossible decisions as a family. We have learned that Ryan's anoxic brain injury is even more devastating and extensive than we even first knew or could understand."

Whitney Allen added that several months after the police officer's cardiac arrest swelling in his brain has subsided, but that a recent MRI has revealed shrinking of her husband's brain and that crucial portions of his brain are no longer present.

"Due to this more definitive picture of his prognosis, we have made the extremely painful decision as a family to have Ryan discharged from rehabilitation on hospice care to spend his remaining days surrounded by loved ones and friends in a peaceful setting close to our home," she wrote.

Whitney Allen also thanked donors to a Go Fund Me established to assist the family pay for the constant skilled care Ryan Allen would need when he returned to his home from Moss Rehabilitation in Elkins Park.

As of Tuesday, March 8, the fundraiser had collected almost $110,000 of a $200,000 goal. "The funds raised will be used for private duty nursing care during Ryan's last weeks, as it is still uncertain if any nursing care while Ryan is on hospice will be covered by insurance," Whitney Allen said.

Whitney Allen told Newsweek her husband will be discharged from the brain injury center at Moss Rehabilitation on March 17.

"As you can imagine, there is no coping in this situation. It is truly devastating as Ryan is an amazing husband, father, son, brother, and K9 officer in the community," she said.

"His absence is palpable and felt by many, but as a family, we are taking each moment as it comes and trying to find joy when possible as we know Ryan would want his family to be happy, especially our two young sons, Jackson 4, and Leo, 2 months."

Update 03/14/22, 7:11 a.m ET: This article was updated to include comments from Whitney Allen.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

");jQuery(this).remove()}) jQuery('.start-slider').owlCarousel({loop:!1,margin:10,nav:!0,items:1}).on('changed.owl.carousel',function(event){var currentItem=event.item.index;var totalItems=event.item.count;if(currentItem===0){jQuery('.owl-prev').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-prev').removeClass('disabled')} if(currentItem===totalItems-1){jQuery('.owl-next').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-next').removeClass('disabled')}})}})})

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrK6enZtjsLC5jpucnmWjqbavs4ycmK6rlZl6sbHNp6qypKaWu6qtjKRwZqifobaksYyonZ%2Bhk5q%2Fbr%2FUn52eql2dsqK%2B02aYrayRmLhurtGaoKdlmaO3tr7YZqmymZ5irq24xKdksKCZqbumxYxqbXFtaGyD