“Everything is the same,” said the grief-stricken older brother of an 18-year-old Ann Sobrato High School alumnus who is in a medically-induced coma at Stanford Medical Center—the same state he has been in since early August.
While doctors are still unable to identify the virus and find its remedy, Tola Mov, a former high school basketball player and YMCA youth referee, is running out of options, according to his older brother Sokthea Mov.
“Last Sunday, we had a family meeting and the doctor told us that they are running out of the medication to support him,” Sokthea Mov explained. “They’ve tried everything and nothing seems to work on him.”
Tola Mov, who was planning to start classes at Gavilan College this fall, has a constant fever and is being treated with medication to suppress continuing seizures, according to Sokthea Mov.
The friendly and well-liked young man was in good health until feeling ill following a bike ride back on Aug. 2. He has been treated at three hospitals since then with doctors still trying to diagnose his condition. His mother took him to Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy before he was transferred to Santa Clara Valley Hospital and then Stanford, where he remains in the intensive care unit.
Now, Sokthea Mov explained the family is trying a seven-day treatment of an alternative medicine (marijuana oil) through his feeding tube to see if it has any effect on his condition.
“This one is the last option,” said Sokthea Mov, noting that doctors have exhausted their therapy methods to alleviate the seizures. “If there is no improvement, then (the doctors) will tell us probably to stop (with the alternative medicine).”
Sokthea Mov wants to spread the word about his younger brother’s condition in hopes that somebody out there may read about it and have an answer for them.
“We want as much help as we can to see if there are any more ideas. Stanford hospital is running out of options. Whatever they could do, they did it and it didn’t help my brother,” he said. “It’s really hard for my family, especially my parents.”
A “Tola Mov Fund” remains on the crowd-funding site gofundme.com, raising money to help with his rising medical costs as doctors continue to run tests. To make a donation, visit gofundme.com/tolamovfund.
