On Saturday night, two people perished in a collision on State Route 104 close to Alum Creek Drive. According to Columbus police, the collision occurred at 8:30 p.m. when Aden Dagane’s Toyota Camry, which was suspected to be traveling against the flow of traffic on the SR-104 off-ramp, collided head-on with Janeiro Matthews’ Kia Cadenza in the westbound lanes of the highway.
According to Page Six, Grayson was fighting brain cancer after receiving a 2006 diagnosis of a brain tumor. Grayson suffered a cardiac arrest on February 5, 2023. Arroyo claimed she gave her son “chest compressions” until paramedics showed up there at her house. He appeared well and was breathing on his own when she dropped him off at the hospital, but his heart failed once more. Age 22 was Grayson’s.
Here’s what you need to know:
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Arroyo kept family, friends, and the public in the loop about her son’s health journey by way of a website called “Amazing Gray” and on social media. On the website, Arroyo previously shared details about her son’s diagnosis, noting that some of his first symptoms were “developmental delays” that began around 2004. He had trouble sleeping — which was fairly normal for him — and then his vision became impaired.
When Grayson became really ill in 2006, he was brought to the emergency department. A mass was found during the CT scan that a doctor had ordered. After that, Grayson underwent additional examinations, including two spinal taps, and an endoscopic biopsy determined that he had a Diffuse Fibrillary Astrocytoma, a rare tumor.
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“The statistics say that only 46% of patients will survive this tumor at 4.7 years and 0% will survive at 10 years,” reads a portion of the website. Arroyo remained optimistic throughout her son’s journey and was hopeful Grayson would be the one to change “the long-term statistics.”
The last update on the website was dated 2012. Arroyo had shared numerous updates about Grayson on her Instagram account in the time since.
In her most recent Instagram update, posted on January 27, 2023, Arroyo said that Grayson was home from the hospital after a severe illness.
“He is not doing well,” she wrote. “He seems to be getting stronger which is good because he was so weak in the hospital, he could not even try and reposition himself in bed. He cannot sit up on his own or hold his head up for any length of time. The fevers came back today, and time will tell if it is related to hydration or something else because his mineral/electrolytes labs were off today too,” she added.
The Whole Family Is in Shock Following Grayson Smiley’s ‘Unexpected’ Death
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The entire family has been heartbroken by Grayson’s passing. Regarding the following stages, Arroyo claimed that she is “still in shock and going through the motions.” Gretchen Rossi, a former member of the RHOC, wrote a lengthy ode to Grayson on her Instagram page.
“Our hearts constantly clutched onto the hope that this day would not come to pass,” she said. “Our reasoning minds told us this day might come.” “We are extremely heartbroken and grieved by the passing of Gray. She said, “Grayson Arroyo-Smiley was such a special person.
“He was an Angel on this earth and an incredible warrior…a warrior like no one has ever seen before. He fought every day through his pain and discomfort to find joy in the smallest of things. He was always singing & dancing & laughing despite his circumstances,” Rossi’s post continued.
Rossi always had a special place in her heart for Grayson, giving her only child the middle name “Gray” in honor of her husband’s son.
“When it came to the middle name, we really wanted it to have a family tie in… All of a sudden one day, we both kinds of looked at each other and we started thinking about [Slade’s] son, Grayson, who is sick. He has been this angel on earth, and he is just this unbreakable, amazing, little man,” Rossi told Access Hollywood in 2019.