My daughter's story

My daughter's story

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On an April night in 2005 my daughter was born. I knew I loved her more than anything in the world once held her in my arms, but I also felt that something just was not right.

I began trying to nurse her and had no luck. The next day after I still had no luck we called a lactation counselor. As the counselor was teaching me how to attach the baby to my breast my daughter had a seizure and they rushed her off to the NICU. They did an EEG which confirmed she was having seizures but then they wanted to know why.

After transferring her to Children's Hospital, they preformed an MRI that concluded that she had suffered two massive strokes sometime around her birth.

When I first heard this diagnosis I was very confused; I thought stroke merely effected the elderly and that if someone was to survive a stroke they would be fine. This was not the case.
The strokes she had cut her brain off from blood and oxygen resulting in some significant brain damage. They told me my baby girl would most likely have severe cerebral palsy, hemiparesis, and may never come off the feeding tube that by now she had spent so many days on.

Time passed and eventually she came off the feeding tube. The first day she crawled or walked were the best days of my life. She is two and a half now and most strangers can't even tell that she has suffered these trying conditions. She has speech problems, learning delays, a severe form of epilepsy and a slight weakness in her right side of her body, but I feel lucky to have what we have. Every day with her is a blessing.

You've got a good thing going here. I hope this also helps raise awareness about pediatric and infant stroke. It's out there and it happens.

Thanks for giving us all a voice.

Tags:

pediatric-stroke, infant-stroke, epilepsy

Posted By:

Shannymar

1 Year, 2 Weeks, 6 days, 11 hours, 28 minutes ago

Personal Story

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