UPDATE: Medrano reportedly recovering in rehab

By FRANCISCO E. JIMENEZ
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com

Oscar Medrano

San Benito CISD Board Member Oscar Medrano is reportedly on track to making a full recovery following a scare that landed him in the hospital for over two weeks.

Mario Medrano, Oscar’s brother, said that the results from a biopsy performed Friday, January 18, returned negative for cancer cells.

“He’s doing fine,” Mario said. “We just had him transferred to South Texas Rehabilitation Hospital on Saturday (January 26). They’re doing all the rehab there. He’s improving, responding well to therapy.”

Oscar was admitted into Valley Baptist Medical Center on Friday, January 11, following a series of severe headaches which doctors feared may have been a result of a tumor or cancerous cells in his brain.

Oscar suffered a “mini-stroke” during his biopsy, Mario said, which according to family left him slightly paralyzed on the right side of his body and his speech and memory temporarily impaired.

Mario said that his brother suffered the stroke as a result of vasculitis, the inflammation of blood vessels in his head.

Still, Mario said that the Medrano family is relieved that Oscar’s health did not prove as grim as his initial diagnosis and remain optimistic that he will make a full recovery.

“As far as returning to his normal life once he’s completed his rehab, he should be able to resume his everyday activities like he’s done in the past,” said Mario. “The doctors said that his recuperation time should be faster. He’s responding really well. He’s verbalizing and talking a little more. We continue to ask for prayers from the community as he recovers, but most of all we want to thank the community for their prayers.”

Read this story in the Jan. 30 edition of the San Benito News, or subscribe to our E-Edition by clicking here.