Living Independently with Acquired Brain Injury
| SURVIVOR STORIES |
| KELLCIE MACNAMARA On December 4th, 2004 our lives changed forever. Our 19 year old daughter, Kellcie Macnamara, was critically injured in an auto accident. Her driver's door was T-boned at 70-80 mph. It was as though she had had a bull’s-eye solely on her. Unknowingly, I was stuck in the traffic jam from her accident. The paramedics found her with a slight pulse and a blood pressure of 60/0. They rated her as a 4 on the Glasgow Scale. This is a scale of 1-15 which rates responsiveness. Things looked quite dire. She had emergency surgery for internal bleeding due to a ruptured spleen. Next they addressed her other extensive injuries: lacerated liver, bruised kidney, and bladder, pelvis broken in three places, three broken ribs, collapsed lunch, and fluid aspiration. She had been hit so hard that even a lay person could see on from the X-ray that her heart and lunch had been shoved significantly towards the center of her chest. Then began her long battle against pneumonia. This was extremely dangerous as she lay unconscious in a coma and could not cough up the fluid. Our tiny but mighty 100 pound daughter clung to life against all odds. As extensive as all these injuries were, none of them held a candle to the damage done to her brain. The neurosurgeon told us around day eight that there was nothing more he could do. We sat in terror as the cranial pressure reached into the 80’s (5-10 is normal). There was a very real and fatal possibility of her brain hernia ting downwards into her throat. The wonderful SICU nurse wrung her hands helplessly as the warning lights flashed and the alarms went off. I opened the Bible and began reading aloud from Psalms. I know it kept me from going insane. But it also had another effect-her pressure began to fall! I had only rediscovered my faith in God four months earlier, in August. By mid September our lives seemed to take a serious downward spiral. John, my husband was found with a large lung tumor. One month later a brain tumor was found. The cancer was diagnosed as Stage IV Melanoma - a very aggressive and usually fatal cancer. Late November ’04 John had one lung removed. He had been home about 4 days when Kellcie nearly lost her life. We had turned to prayer for John as had many friends, but Kellcie’s accident turned things up a notch. I can now see how blessed we were to find out faith returning in August - just in time for the onslaught of our lives. But I felt so “new” at becoming reacquainted with God. Would He care to listen to me? I had been ignoring Him for years. Churches put my family on their prayer list. Soon we were being prayed for from CA. to the East Coast to Hi, to Canada, England and Ireland. I became more confident that God heard our prayers. We could see that if John had not had cancer in his brain we would have never have known about a fantastic neurosurgeon who God willing helped turn things around. It was 20 days post accident before Kellcie was barely stable enough to travel the short distance to the MIR. The results were devastating – anoxia and extensive brain shearing. We were reminded we could turn the ventilator off. Her prognosis held no hope. If she lived she would never wake up. If she woke up she would have no awareness of her surroundings, her self, or even know who we were. One doctor known for his perfectionism said even this was a “generous prognosis”. But he also said that studies showed that the power can work. Evidently there were just two rays of hope - time and prayer. We struggled on with our hope for our daughter. Prayer and denial worked wonders! Someone told me that when something is broken you take it to the repair man. When the repair man can’t fix it, you go straight to the manufacturer. Well, we were definitely going to have to go straight to the manufacturer (God). Early February John and I “accidentally” discovered Tiffany Snow. We had been living at the hospital since Kellcie’s accident. It was a rare morning for me to be home. I settled down in front of the TV with a cup of coffee. I tuned in to a local station. The segment was showing Tiffany facilitating a healing with a 19 year old girl who was expected to die! Was this speaking to me or what?! It seemed like divine intervention. Tiffany came to see Kellcie a few days later in her coma. Kellcie was in sub-acute care and doing poorly. He blood pressure was quite high and her heart rate was 150-200. Tiffany was so gentle and loving. It felt as though she had been sent to lift our burden. As Tiffany prayed we all joined in and asked for divine intervention. Kellcie’s vitals all returned to normal and she fell asleep. But Tiffany’s words brought another gift. I had implored her to tell me if my baby was “in there.” She smiled knowingly and said, “yes your baby’s there.” she even giggled and said Kellcie was thinking of a certain young man. She gave the first initial of his name and she was correct! This was the first time in over 2 months that John and I felt a lightening of our load. Tiffany held Kellcie’s right arm and said very seriously, “there is an infection and she is on the wrong medicine.” Her words echoed in my being as Kellcie became quite ill later that night. She was moved back to the MICU where the Drs. were baffled at her symptoms. I repeatedly asked if it could be the antibiotic. I was repeatedly told by the infectious disease Dr. that it would be extremely rare to have an allergy to Vancomycin. However, 10 days later he meekly suggested that we need to list Vancomycin as a drug allergy. Always the skeptic, I was at once in awe and yet had to consider the possibility of it being a coincidence. As our family was to learn with time and more visits form Tiffany, the word “coincidence” could not begin to explain what we were witnessing following the healings, as she awoke into consciousness and more abilities. After the second healing Kellcie began moving her left arm, fingers, and left leg. Following the third visit Kellcie began saying a couple of words. One afternoon Tiffany called. She had been led in to prayer for Kellcie and wanted to know if she was speaking more. I felt badly, but honestly there had been little improvement. Within 2 hours Kellcie sat up and clearly asked “What happened?” this sent chills through all of us. This certainly showed an awareness of her self. And that something happened to her. More sentences followed and soon I could not even spell in front of her. In April, Kellcie was seen by Tiffany again. We were not in a private room this time and visitors were there also. Two physical therapists were in and out as were nurses. It felt like Grand Central Station. I worried maybe God wouldn’t work in front of all these people. None of this fazed Tiffany as she tuned into God’s goodness. She began at the head and mentioned that “there was some fluid buildup there. Nothing to worry about but I should be watched.” Well, I am not kidding when I say that within 10-15 minutes of Tiffany saying this, the Neurosurgeon came in, he scratched his head and he looked at Tiffany and then said “I will have to adjust Kellcie’s shunt, there is a little fluid built up there, don’t worry I will keep an eye on it.” This is how it has continued to be. Tiffany facilitates God’s healing energy and love. Within two hours to two days things will happen just as God has directed Tiffany to tell us. In May, Kellcie was in rehab. That in itself was a miracle. She was a handful and very agitated. She could not tolerate anything touching her face, especially her mouth. In six months, she had no food or water by mouth and the therapist worked daily to help her through this aversion but there was no progress. Kellcie had been there four weeks. Tiffany had visited her the day before her discharge. She told us “Kellcie wanted to eat and drink but was fearful“. We should “try a blue or purple cup as those were her favorite colors”. We brought Kellcie home the next day. We offered her water out of a blue mug and she immediately drank and drank. The very next day she ate cheesecake. In very short order, she was able to eat everything. Many people have severe swallowing problems after a severe brain injury. Most need salad or veggies put into a blender, and thickener put into water for less chance of aspiration. Kellcie was eating everything now, and still our tiny but mighty girl but a little over 100lbs. Late June, Kellcie began in home therapy two times a week. During one visit Kellcie nearly broke a therapist’s nose. She mentioned that Kellcie was one of the most violent patients she had seen. Well along came Tiffany again, she worked intensely and said, “expect changes with Kellcie’s legs.” A day later the PT returned for a session. She was very guarded as she began working with our daughter. After a bit she relaxed and told us that “we have a completely different person here today. She is so cooperative, her legs how much more strength and coordination and her balance has improved. I think she could eventually use a walker.” Her neurosurgeon and physiatrist are so amazed with Kellcie’s progress. They too have found hope out of her miraculous recovery. I am praying they will offer other families some encouragement due to what they have seen. Kellcie now smiles, jokes and sings at doctor visits. It does my heart good to see their smiles after such a long, dark journey. Kellcie doesn’t need splints, braces or Achilles tendon release surgeries as had been prescribed. There is talk she will walk without her walker one day, and she is practicing now, and doing well! (*7 weeks after this letter, Kellcie rarely uses a walker now, and is at PT twice a week and in swimming classes and looking forward to competition). Tiffany knew all this from the first visit. She told us Kellcie would be fully healed, physically, emotionally and spiritually, that Kellcie would be a miracle testimony for God, encouraging many people and doctors. Kellcie has remembered the SICU where she spent nearly six weeks. Keep in mind, her eyes were never opened during this time. Hmmm… She has remembered the night of her accident and her destination. She can verbalize that her thinking doesn’t flow as it should and is very aware of her memory problems. All of this will heal I tell her. She is not “brain damaged”, she is in brain recovery! We saw Tiffany in January. Again, like clockwork, two days later, here came the results. Kellcie stated out of the blue “I want to write.” She had only made straight lines and traced circles previously. She wrote on our grease board “Kellcie, CM (her initials) I love you.” My husband who also sees Tiffany has survived four brain surgeries, one lung removal, one bowel resection and two series of intense brain radiation. We always see Tiffany before his checkups, which involve MRI’s, CAT scans and PET scans. She tells us that results before the tests and has always been right! After John’s second brain surgery in August, the neurosurgeon seemed perplexed at how relaxed we were. He tried to drive home the point that John’s survival and recovery has been amazing. All the doctors look at us as we don’t understand the seriousness of his prognosis. We look at them in amusement that they are so stymied and don’t know what to do with him because he is not “by the book.” It is ironic but I know that John’s cancer has played a part in saving Kellcie. It allowed us to know the neurosurgeon to call. I believe that because this doctor had met Kellcie previously and knew John to be amazingly resilient and also knew first hand the horror of the multiple tragedies, he didn’t have the heart to give up on her. I also know that Kellcie’s injury has saved John. Her needing him has provided him with a very primal instinct to stay around and help his family. His will to live has been aided and supported by God through Tiffany. I could go on and on. All the details don’t matter so much unless you are stubborn and skeptical as I was. God needed to keep hitting me over the head again and again before I got it. Our Father is real He listens and speaks to us all the time. Whether we think we are on speaking terms or not. His plan is always better than ours because He sees the big picture. We just need to relax in His love and know that He will give us the strength we need and the people we need to help us triumph. Kellcie continues to make wonderful breakthroughs after healing from God. Tiffany says that Kellcie also has the gift of healing hands. Kellcie is quite impressed and excited. As poor as her short term memory is now, she does not forget her bright future helping people! As analytical and skeptical as my nature is, I don’t use the word coincidence anymore. I smile and just tell God “thank you.” My sincere hope is that those who need encouragement, comfort, faith or a place to turn to, will ask for and find Divine Intervention. Remember the “Manufacturer’s” number is unpublished but it is in everyone’s heart. Barbara C. Macnamara, San Diego, CA 2006 |
