Sandra Bullock’s sister praises Hollywood star for ‘amazing’ way she nursed partner Bryan Randall during his ‘cruel’ private three-year battle with ALS before his death at 57
- The star’s sister Gesine mourned the loss of the photographer on Instagram
- She praised Bullock and the team of nurses who cared for Randall at their home during his secret three-year battle with ALS
- Bryan’s family announced on Monday that he had passed on August 5
Sarah Bullock’s family has praised the ‘amazing’ way she cared for her longtime partner Bryan Randall during his secret battle with ALS before his tragic death at 57.
The photographer’s family revealed in a statement on Monday that he had passed away on Saturday, August 5, three years after he was diagnosed with the illness.
Bullock’s sister Gesine Bullock-Prado took to her Instagram on Monday afternoon to mourn the loss of Randall and honor her sister, who had been in a relationship with Randall since 2015.
‘I’m convinced that Bry has found the best fishing spot in heaven and is already casting his lure into rushing rivers teaming with salmon,’ she began.
‘ALS is a cruel disease but there is some comfort in knowing he had the best of caretakers in my amazing sister and the band of nurses she assembled who helped her look after him in their home,’ Bullock-Prado added.
Tragic: Sandra Bullock’s partner Bryan Randall has passed away at 57 after a secret three-year battle with ALS. The couple are pictured here in London at the Oceans 8 premiere in 2018
‘The best of caretakers’: Sandra’s sister Gesine praised the ‘amazing’ way she cared for Bryan during his illness. The siblings are seen here at The Lost City premiere in March 2022
Instagram tribute: Gesine called ALS a ‘cruel disease’, but added ‘there is some comfort in knowing he had the best of caretakers in my amazing sister and the band of nurses she assembled who helped her look after him in their home’
Gesine concluded the post by writing, ‘Rest in peace, Bryan,’ and encouraged donations to both the ALS Association and Massachusetts General Hospital.
The Hollywood actress first met Bryan – a model-turned-photographer – in 2015, after he photographed her son Louis’s birthday. It came five years after her messy divorce from Jesse James and her heartbreaking love life with other celebrities in the past such as Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans.
On their last public sighting together, in July, 2020, the former model was pictured gazing adoringly at his love as they arrived to an intimate gathering in Studio City with her two children.
‘It is with great sadness that we share that on Aug. 5, Bryan Randall passed away peacefully after a three-year battle with ALS,’ his family shared to People.
‘Bryan chose early to keep his journey with ALS private and those of us who cared for him did our best to honor his request.’
‘We are immensely grateful to the tireless doctors who navigated the landscape of this illness with us and to the astounding nurses who became our roommates, often sacrificing their own families to be with ours,’ the family statement continued.
‘At this time we ask for privacy to grieve and to come to terms with the impossibility of saying goodbye to Bryan.’ The statement was signed off by ‘His Loving Family.’
There is no cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – ALS – and the disease is fatal, but it progresses at different speeds in patients.
Last family outing: Sandra Bullock and her longtime partner Bryan Randall were last seen out together in Studio City in July, 2020 along with her two adopted children Louis, 13, and Laila, 11. Randall died on August 5 following a private three-year battle with ALS
Family time: Bullock has two adopted children — son Louis, 13, and daughter Laila, 11 — and Bryan has an adult daughter named Skylar from a previous relationship (seen in 2018)
Rare interview: Sandra Bullock, 59, called her partner Bryan Randall ‘very patient,’ ‘a saint’ and ‘evolved on a level that is not human’ in a 2021 interview amid his secret ALS battle that led to his tragic passing at 57 on Saturday
People with ALS are expected to live two to five years after the symptoms first manifest, although 10 percent of sufferers live at least 10 years. It is also known in some countries as motor-neurone disease.
The disease is also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease after the US baseball player when he was diagnosed in 1939 at just 36 years old.
The couple do not have any children together, but Bullock has two adopted children — son Louis, 13, and daughter Laila, 11 — and Bryan has an adult daughter named Skylar from a previous relationship.
Though Sandra and Bryan have kept their romance very private, the silver screen star gushed about her beau in 2021 on Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk, where she also discussed her divorce from ex-husband Jesse James in 2010.
During the appearance Bullock said: ‘I am someone who went through the divorce process.’
‘I found the love of my life,’ she continued. ‘We share two beautiful children — three children, his older daughter. It’s the best thing ever.’
She added, ‘So, I don’t want to say do it like I do it, but I don’t need a paper to be a devoted partner or a devoted mother.’ Bullock also expressed that she didn’t ‘need to be told to be ever-present in the hardest of times’ or ‘to weather a storm with a good man.’
Not long after meeting, the actress revealed to Bryan that she had plans to adopt a second child. Bullock said that her partner was simultaneously ‘so happy, but … scared’ at the development.
She also described her partner as being ‘very Christian’ and a great example to the children.
‘I don’t always agree with him and he doesn’t always agree with me,’ she said, adding: ‘But if they can take away from that and that is where they feel drawn to, he’s the exact right parent to be in this position.’
After first meeting in 2015, Sandra and Bryan went public with their budding relationship that same year, and were guests at Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux’s wedding, per People.
The Blind Side actress has yet to publicly comment on the sad passing of her longtime partner.
Before her relationship with Randall, Bullock was in a high-profile romance with Monster Garage host Jesse James.
They met after she brought her motorcycle-obsessed godson on a trip to West Coast Choppers’s Long Beach headquarters in 2003. The pair ultimately wed in 2005, in front of 270 of their closest friends and family at a ranch in the San Ynez Valley.
In March 2010, days after she took home an Academy Award for her performance in The Blind Side, several women came forward about their affairs with Jesse.
A month later, Jesse checked himself into a rehab facility in Arizona for sex addiction after apologizing profusely to Bullock, although that wasn’t enough to save the marriage – they divorced the following June.
In 2017, he told DailyMail.com: ‘Yeah, I did cheat on my wife, yeah… I stood up and took accountability for it and apologized. And that’s [the] end of story.’
Bullock’s other exes include Chris Evans, Ryan Gosling, Bob Schneider, Matthew McConaughey, Don Padilla, Troy Aikman and Tate Donovan.
Randall began his career as a model before becoming a photographer
Randall in an early shoot from his fashion days, before he stepped behind the camera
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): Details of fatal disease there is no cure for
What is it?
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurogenerative disorder which impacts the nerve cells in the spinal cord and the brain, according to the Mayo Clinic. It gets progressively worse and causes significant muscle control loss in people who have it.
Treatment
There is no cure for ALS and the disease is fatal, but it progresses at different speeds in patients.
Symptoms
The first signs of ALS are twitching of the muscles, weaknesses of the limbs and problems with swallowing and speaking. Progressively, it deteriorates muscle control and impacts an individual’s ability to breathe, move, speak and eat.
ALS symptoms correspond with where nerve cells deteriorate in each person, and could lead to issues walking, tripping, and weakness of the knees, ankles and hands.
It can also lead to problems with muscle cramps and twitching in areas including one’s tongue, arms and shoulders. People with ALS have experienced untimely spells of laughter, tears and yawns, as well as changes to one’s thinking process or behavior, according to the clinic.
Risk factors
Among the risk factors researchers have established for ALS include genetics, as about 10 percent of people diagnosed with it were passed down a gene from a relative, which is called hereditary ALS, according to the clinic. Kids of people who have hereditary ALS have a 50 percent chance of having the gene.
Age is also a factor as the risk of getting the disease trends up toward the age of 75, with the most common range of people who have it between 60 and 85. In terms of gender, men are diagnosed with a higher rate of ALS prior to the age of 65, according to the clinic.
Other factors that have been linked to ALS include smoking and exposure to toxic substances. The clinic reported that military personnel have been diagnosed with ALS at a higher rate.
Causes
There is no known cause of ALS, according to the Mayo Clinic, and heredity plays a factor in a small number of cases.
Lou Gehrig was one of baseball’s preeminent stars while playing for the Yankees between 1923 and 1939. Known as ‘The Iron Horse,’ he played in 2,130 consecutive games before ALS forced him to retire. The record was broken by Cal Ripken Jr. in 1995
Lou Gehrig’s Disease
As well as being known as ALS, it is frequently referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Lou Gehrig was a stalwart first baseman for the New York Yankees between 1923 and 1939. He was famous for his strength and durability, earning the nickname ‘The Iron Horse’ with a record-setting streak of 2,130 consecutive games.
In a July 4, 1939 speech on Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium, the ballplayer famously said, ‘For the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.’
His popularity and fame transcended the sport of baseball. He died two years after his diagnosis on June 2, 1941.
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