Roy Nygren got home at around 7:50 p.m. after his final preseason boys soccer game against Passaic County Tech on Aug. 29. After the game, Roy and his wife, Judy, planned to go to a place in Suffern for dinner and to watch their son at an open mic night. Their son is training to be a comedian, and wanted an opportunity to watch him perform live.

Judy and Roy got into their car to head out at about 8:30 p.m. Within ten minutes, Judy mentioned that she felt sick, faint, and nauseous. Shortly after, she keeled over, and Roy rushed his wife over to Valley Hospital in Ridgewood. After she stopped breathing, she was intubated. Later that night, they were transferred over to New York Presbyterian Hospital.

It was there that Roy heard the news that would ultimately change the fate of his family. It was discovered that Judy was born with AVM, or Arteriovenous Malformation, that developed with the rest of her brain at birth. It is very uncommon, as less than 1% of people born are diagnosed.

“Our lives as a family went upside down,” Roy said.

Judy went into a non-induced coma and it lasted for 22 days. She suffered a stroke that night that was caused by the AVM. Throughout the duration of her coma, she went through three surgeries.

The little cluster of veins and arteries in the middle of her frontal lobe on the left side of the brain, which is responsible for controlling speech and the right side of the body, started to bleed. Judy started bleeding because she didn’t have a capillary bed to regulate the blood flow from the arteries to the veins.

Almost everyone who has an AVM starts to have bleeding problems between the ages of 45 to 65, and Judy fits into this group as she is 57. Doctors rate AVM damage based on a scale of light, moderate, and heavy. Judy’s damage was classified as heavy.

“It wasn’t anything she did or controlled,” Roy said. “It was inevitable. She basically had this ticking time bomb in her for her whole life.”

To save her life, Judy underwent many different procedures within the first couple of months. Surgeons had to remove her skull to control the swelling. She had to get a resection to make sure her brain wouldn’t bleed again. The surgeon who performed the resection was Dr. Edward Sander Connolly, who is regarded as one of the top doctors in his field in the world. Despite Connelly’s presence, there was uncertainty if Judy would survive the operation.

After the surgeries, Judy’s condition was deemed stable. She now resides at Helen Hayes Hospital in West Haverstraw, formally known as the best “acute brain trauma rehabilitation centers” in the entire country. She will be there for about five more weeks, but it could be longer depending on her progression. After Helen Hayes, she would be transported to a sub-acute facility for an extensive period of time. Roy said that it would be around a year before she’d be able to return home. In all, it will be a total of a two year recovery.

Since the incident in late August, the Nygrens’ have received support from a variety of different communities. The family has lived in Glen Rock for 25 years, Roy works here at Pascack Valley, and Judy worked at Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Fair Lawn as a guidance counselor; all of these communities have helped the Nygrens get through this period.   

“They say what you put into something is what you get out of it,” Roy said. “The reachout has been phenomenal. It has allowed our family to find a way through this.”

He has received texts, calls, letters through the mail, and most notably donations through the GoFundMe page started by someone at Judy’s work. Roy said that he is fortunate to have received help from not only the local community, but also people from around the country and around the world. He finds it difficult to express his full gratitude to each and every person, calling the situation “touching.”

PV Principal Tom DeMaio has known the Nygrens since their days coaching football and soccer at William Paterson University in 1990. Once he moved into Glen Rock in the mid-90s, they reunited.  All of DeMaio’s daughters are the same ages as the Nygren children. They went to school together and became good friends. As a result, the two families became family friends.

“[Judy] is a saint,” DeMaio said. “She is one of those genuinely, loving individuals who is a caring person for other people. [She] truly wants to know how you’re doing, how your family is. One of those people who would stop anything to do anything for you.”  

The role that DeMaio immediately assumed was as a sounding board and conduit for Roy. DeMaio would update a big group of people on Judy’s status so that Roy wouldn’t have to reach out. He has also been there for moral support, to run errands, among other responsibilities.

In terms of soccer, Roy has received support from his assistant coaches. Luciano Cofrancesco and Al Coleman have been filling in the coaching duties whenever necessary, with Cofrancesco often stepping in as the head coach. Cofrancesco admitted that it was hard to manage, but he was eager to lend any help possible.

“When I found out, I really wanted to help any way I could,” Cofrancesco said. “Me and Coleman were in correspondence and we figured out what we could do for him. [Coleman] would take the JV team and I would work with Varsity one day, and we went from there.”

DeMaio said he is proud of what he’s seen within the Pascack Valley and Glen Rock communities. He was happy to see so many people rally around the Nygren family to help them during this period.  

“We just continue to pray that Mrs. Nygren gets healthier and stronger, and recovery is as full as it can be, ” DeMaio said. “And she can live a real happy, productive life.”