Johnsburg man back from Dominican Republic after emergency brain surgery

Greg and Bonnie Dervis are back at their Johnsburg home now, two weeks after they were originally set to return from a graduation-gift trip with 30 of their closest friends.

“He is home now, with me. We got home late Sunday night,” Bonnie Dervis said Tuesday. They had spent the morning at a hospital emergency room, getting Greg checked out for the first time in the U.S. after having had emergency brain surgery.

They, along with other parents and recent Johnsburg High School graduates, had flown to the Dominican Republic on July 6. But by July 8, Greg was not feeling well, throwing up and feeling dizzy. A blood clot had formed on his brain, and he needed emergency surgery, paid for in advance.

With the help of family and friends, and a GoFundMe fundraiser, they were able to pull together the $25,000 needed for Greg’s initial treatment. While the rest of their vacation companions – and their 17-year-old son – returned to Illinois on July 13, they had to remain.

Greg was medically released from the hospital on July 21, but the wait was figuring out how to get them back to Illinois, Bonnie Dervis said.

Their travel insurance provider was trying to get them on a commercial flight home, while the doctors in the Dominican Republic said they wanted him on a medical flight.

A compromise sent a contracted doctor from Chicago to the Dominican Republic, who then flew back with them while monitoring Greg’s condition.

“He did everything, checking Greg’s vitals the whole time,” Bonnie Dervis said.

Going to the ER this week allowed them to get referred to a general practitioner, who can help them get in to see a neurosurgeon to continue Greg’s care, Bonnie said.

Now that they are home, their main goal is sleep, rest and recovery. Their Johnsburg neighbors and friends have set up a meal train to ensure they eat, and friends have taken their daughter, Morgan, 7, out for fun days while they recover.

So far, Greg seems to be recovering well, too. He recognized a nurse at the hospital as a former neighbor, “and he is eating well,” Bonnie Dervis said, adding they both lost weight during the ordeal. “We are so happy to be home, in a comfortable environment where everybody speaks English.”

Still, however, in the “when it rains, it pours” theory, they didn’t have a completely seamless homecoming. When storms rolled through the area Monday, it knocked a tree into their garage roof and knocked out power for about 20 minutes.

There is no damage to the roof from what she can tell, Bonnie Dervis said.