This Little Girl of Mine
This little girl of mine, Abigail, has come a long long way. Born at 25 weeks, she was immediately intubated via endotracheal tube, sustained a stage 1 introventricular hemorrhage, born with practically no airway, severe trauma to her vocal chords, oral aversion, bilateral hernia, chronic lung disease, a PDA (hole in the heart), and a tracheotomy. She overcame the doubts and expectations doctors had about her. I left the traditional workforce to tend to her full time as her life depended on someone being with her 24/7. I'll never forget pulling off the freeway on Interstate 696 in Metro Detroit numerous times and having to do an emergency trach change because she was suffocating. I wasn't getting the right answers from doctors and so I spent endless nights trying to find the best in the world for her no matter what it took, even if it was the last dollar that I had. One night I wrote a letter to the pioneer of pediatric reconstruction airway surgery in Cincinnati and he told me to bring bring her in. He was a surgeon from the UK practicing in Cincinnati. That visit change the course of her life. He not only saved her life but improved her quality of life by reconstructing a brand new airway for her and getting rid of her trache. She's now five years old and a bright little girl at Keith Elementary.
