Bryan Stow Makes 'Dramatic' Progress

Five months after beaten , the hospital's chief of neurosurgery announced today that Stow's condition has improved, allowing him to be moved to a rehabilitation facility.

Stow was transferred to the unnamed facility Tuesday morning. "It has really been a roller coaster with Bryan," Dr. Geoff Manley said at a news conference at the hospital Tuesday afternoon. "He's making dramatic progress."

Stow arrived at San Francisco General Hospital on May 16 from a hospital in Los Angeles where he had been treated following his March 31 beating outside Dodger Stadium after the season opener between the Dodgers and the Giants.

When Stow arrived at San Francisco General Hospital he was brought in comatose on a gurney and was on five anti-seizure medications. Although for months doctors encountered setbacks in Stow's treatment, he began to make significant improvements in the past month, and recently began speaking in sentence fragments and following simple commands.

Manley said Stow has begun to "mobilize," meaning that he is beginning to move but can't yet walk on his own.

On Sept. 23, Stow was taken outside into the sun for the first time since his attack, a moment he called "magical," according to his family.

Manley said all of Stow's medications have been reduced significantly but he remains on some "maintenance" medications typically given to traumatic brain injury patients. The Stow family has requested that the name of the rehabilitation facility not be released today to allow them and Stow to settle in and begin working with the rehabilitation team.

Manley said that even though Stow is no longer under the care of his neurosurgery team, he plans to keep in touch with the Giants fan and his family.

"Recovery just doesn't stop at six months," he said.

—By Bay City News Service