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http://www.jadefoundation.org/ |
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Jade's Story |
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As Told By Her Mother,
The results were frightening. Our family
was informed that Jade had a brain like "swiss cheese" and would be
in a vegetative state for the rest of her life, or maybe even die. Of
course, we were horrified!She looked like a normal healthy baby to us. We
decided to have Jade baptized at the hospital, and leave the rest to fate and
God. A nurse in the infant intensive care unit suggested the medical team try
B6, a vitamin that sometimes helps seizure patients. By some miracle it
worked! Jade's seizures began to
decline, then finally stopped. The doctors still did not know if there
would be permanent brain damage. They performed more tests and discovered
that the holes they thought were in Jade's brain were really pockets of
fluid, and that fluid was dispersing. Jade was going to make it after all.
Time would tell the rest. We left the hospital with our beautiful baby about
three weeks after she was born. We were so very happy! As Jade grew, she seemed to be progressing
normally. When she received her first set of immunizations, I was warned to
keep her on Tylenol or a fever reducer for at least 24 hours and to watch her
closely (which I did). Sometimes immunizations can cause fevers which can
cause seizures and Jade definitely needed to stay seizure-free to stay
healthy. At her next immunization appointment and
check-up she was pronounced healthy and normal for her age and was given her
shots. I was given no warnings this time. I put a happy little girl to bed
that night. Suddenly, at about 2 or 3 AM, I awoke to a gurgling grunting
noise coming from Jade's crib. I ran to her and she was having a gran mal
seizure. I called an ambulance, and she was put in intensive care again. I was
shocked. This time Jade suffered permanent damage and her life with real
disabilities began. The damage became most obvious when she
was first learning to walk. Jade could not break her own falls, she would
fall head first. She did not even have the simple reflex to put her arms out
to save herself. She began school at the famous Courage Center in the Twin
Cities at one and 1/2 years of age. I had to put her on a bus, and she
would ride it to school about 3 days a week. It broke my heart, but she loved
it. Jade has always loved school of any sort,
and always tries her darndest to be the best at what she does. After Courage
Center, she attended the Peter Enich Early Childhood and Development
Kindergarten in Anoka, MN. She went to both the early child and
kindergarten sessions of the school. She has received all kinds of therapy
over the years. But now she only has speech and observational occupational
therapy. Jade came to love horses at the tender age
of six years old. Sugar and Jade make a great team.
Together, they won both the Tri-State Championship for Western Pleasure and
the Reserve Championship for Western Equitation in 1996. We still have Sugar,
but she is semi-retired. Jade is now a 9th Grader and is
16 years old. She can drive wave-runners (personal watercraft) and she is
just learning to handle our John Deere tractor at the ranch. Soon she will
start her driver's permit training. She plays the piano and the flute, and
sings in the school choir. She played basketball on school teams almost every
year (including two championship basketball teams, one in second grade, and
one in eighth grade). This year she decided she wanted to concentrate on her
horse-showing. Jade is often on the "B" Honor
Roll at her school and was just elected student representative to the student
council by her peers. Her favorite subjects are choir and cooking. Jade doesn't believe in the words
"You can't do it". She is like her father, and will try anything.
She is brave, but not stupid or foolhardy. She loves to learn and experience
new things. Jade is the reason that I started The Jade Foundation. Without a doubt, Minnesota has the best
Special Education in the country. Jade is the product of these very effective
public education programs. But she is also the product of intense
parental involvement, lots of love from her big brother, support of her
friends, and care and attention from her extended family. It takes a lot of
people and a lot of time to help a child be successful in life, no matter
what their disabilities are. With your help, we can raise
awareness and get money to programs to help these kids succeed, so there will
be more success stories like Jade's. God Bless,
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Metro
Telephone: 763-413-4777
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