The Full Story Starts
BECCA THE BUEATIFUL: AN ULTIMATE SURVIVOR NEEDS ASSISTANCE
Everyday is a special occasion when you are in Hawaii.
THE FULL STORY
Twenty six years ago there was no 4PAWS.
Dogs would never have been allowed to comfort distressed children in a medical setting. No one dreamed a dog could wake you up in the middle of the night to so you could take care of your seizuring child. But there were sick children and Rebecca was beginning her battles.
Rebecca, who lives up to her name, has always been both “Captivating and Beautiful”.
If Becca’s life had been different I believe she would currently be standing right beside Elizabeth, her twin sister, in the ranks of the US Air Force. But Becca’s energy since infancy has been consumed in different kinds of life threatening battles.
Rebecca, though born four weeks premature, was born bright and beautiful in the middle of shift change (at an unnamed hosp). She received no silver nitrate in her eyes (her twin received both doses) and was tagged baby #2 on her wrist and baby #1 on her ankle. Without the blinding silver nitrate Becca could interact with her environment making her intelligence overtly obvious and allowing her to bond deeply with us. A bonding we all would need to face the coming onslaught.
Home for the first time.
A big brother's love
Due to time delay, caused by initial misdiagnoses, it would blossom into encephalitis, hydrocephalus and seizure disorder. Ending in Traumatic Brain Injury, severe developmental delay, and the loss of half her brain mass.
Five pounds of tenacity hanging on for dear life.
To the right is our five pound bundle fighting for her life. You can see the damage to the veins in her head caused by antibiotic burns. The veins in her arms and legs were equally damaged and worn out. I cut out the part of the picture that showed her little bottom. All blistered and red from antibiotic/urine burns it was turned upward to the healing warmth of a lamp.
Pleading for it all to end.
The above picture was taken in University of Chicago Pediatric ICU where she first reopened her eyes. They would close again many times for many battles over the next twenty six years Often when they opened they would be overflowing with pain, begging, pleading, many times blank or confused, once sightless for days.
Her crib was always decorated and held a photo of her twin.
By five months old Becca had endured;
twenty three spinal taps,
three brain surgeries,
used up most all available
IV sites in her little five pound
body including those in her scalp.
She suffered from antibiotic burns
over her entire bottom and legs.
Looking at Beth's picture on a day with less pain than other days
The Adhesive tape from a surgical IV in the above picture had eaten her skin raw and layers of skin ripped right off of her arm with the removal of the IV tape. A horrible way to find out you are allergic to adhesives.
This was right after her first brain/shunt surgery.
She was exposed to german measels a day before this first shunt surgury and found out about the exposure during her surgury to late to stop and wait.
There were hundreds of blood draws during those first few months.
The second time Becca came home it was
very different; with the prognosis of
being a vegetable for life. No more
smiles and laughter, no eye contact,
no more bonding, no more games
wacthing how she interected with
patterns and colors. With no
muscle tone her flesh just
hung on her body.
With half of her brain destroyed
she just stared into space.
This was a far cry from the wonderful
interactive laughing baby that had come
home the first time. The daughter, who
had been so obviously smarter than her
other three siblings combined,
had been ripped away from us.
By nine months Becca had also survived having her remainning live brain cells squished and O2 deprived for six weeks by a continuously growing cyst in her head. Inoperable until she recovered from chicken pox. Becca was the last of the four children to break out and had them worse than any of the rest. Even with blisters inside her mouth and nose she kept on smiling. She was with her family even if she wasn’t at home. Some friends had taken us in during our fire restoration.
We slept where ever we could in those days before Ronald McDonald house and Other thoughts from Becca’s mom.
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