On July 12th, at only 2 1/2 months old, she was diagnosed with Shaken Baby Syndrome. The doctors at Helen Devos Childrens Hospital told me that her injuries were so severe that she was not going to survive. She suffered from severe bleeding in her brain causing all of her brain to be dead except her brain stem, bleeding behind her eyes, a spiral break in her right arm, and both legs were broken at
her knees. The docors also told me that she will never be able to walk, talk, or ever have a personality ever again. On July 17th, I made the hard decision to remove her ventilator to let her go peacefully in her sleep and to stop her suffering. I did everything possible to get as much closure with her that I could (gave her one last bath, lotioned her, cut and kept a lock of her hair, blessed her with hospital Chaplin, laid with her in bed, etc.). The doctors warned me that it may take minutes to a couple days for her to actually pass away. Now at one year old, she's still alive and slowly improving every day. She's gaining her strength back in her neck muscles, arm and leg fractures are all healed, swelling and pressure in her head is gone, blood in her eyes is completely gone, and she's learning to eat solid foods. She smiles only about once a day and that's first thing in the morning after a good nights rest but no laughter yet. She attends Speech, Occupational, and Physical Therapy every week. Her father plead "no contest" to shaking her. He was charged with second degree child abuse and was sentenced to 5-10 years in prison and ordered to pay $7,000 in restitution.
