| Macie's Story |
| Macie's Story begins on Monday June 7th, 1999. She was 6 1/2 months old. I went to pick my daughter up from daycare, and I was told that all she did all day was cry, and she refused to eat. This was not normal for Macie. She was a very happy , easy going baby. I brought her over to my mother's house, I am a single mom and at the time I was only 19. I was young and scared, not knowing why my child was actting weird. She sucked down 2 full 8 oz. bottles within a 4 hour period, showing me she was starving. I took her into the doctor the next morning, Tuesday June 8th. She was sent home with a clean bill of health, So i brought her back to daycare and went to work. I was called at work at 4:30 that after noon by the daycare lady's husband. All he said on the phone was,"the ambulence is on the way" then he hung up. I ran out of work, not knowing what had happened to my baby. When I got to the daycare the street was filled with police cars, fire trucks and the ambulence. Macie was already inside the ambulence, and I was told I could not see her. The daycare lady drove me to the hospital. She told me Macie had asperated. Which means she threw up and swallowed it into her lungs. She said she was scared and that she loved Macie very much. When we got to the hospital the first thing I heard was my little girls screams. I had never heard her scream that loud in my life. I walked back and saw her laying limp on the hospital table. her eyes were rolled to the back of her head. They did a chest x-ray which showed that her lungs were clear, proving she had not asperated. They also did a CT scan which came back normal. The daycare lady left after that. Macie was admitted into the hospital, and was given an MRI and spinal taps. The doctors could not figure out what was wrong. the second day she was there we noticed she was having seizers. Alot of them. Some lasted for 3 hours at a time. She could not hold her head up or swallow, and she could not move. It seemed as though she had had a stroke. By the third day docotrs were trying to tell me Macie had a seizer disorder. I didn't not believe this since she had been very heathy her whole life. My sister came to see Macie and just happened to mention Shaken Baby Syndrom. She had heard an add about it on the radio on her way to the hospital. The doctors didn't want to even test for it, but we begged and finally got our way. They looked behind her eyes with a magnifier, and found hemerages behind both eyes. They then did a second CT scan which showed bleeding and swelling of her brain, along with a skull fracture. This is when they told us that yes indeed Macie had Shaken Baby Syndrom. I went into shock. I racked my brain trying to figure out who could have done this to my little girl. The police came in and everyone who had been around Macie in the 3 weeks prior to her injuries were investigated. They talked to the daycare lady who came up with 4 different stories. Finally after a week she admitted that Macie was crying and she "snapped". She said she violently shook Macie until she went limp. Then she got scared and ran down to the basment and dropped Macie on her head on the cement floor to try amd cover up the shaking. Macie was sent home from the hospital after about a month. She seemed like she was a newborn. She had to relearn everything she once knew how to do. She underwent eye surgery to removed the hemerages from behind her eyes. She was put on seizure meds until her 1st birthday, though she never had a seizure after she left the hospital. The daycare lady was finally charge with Malicious Punishment of a Child after a long 10 months in court. She was sentanced to 48 months in prison of which she will only have to serve 32 months. She will get out next year. Macie just turned 3 in November of 2001, and she is doing great compaired to what doctors thought. She has had 2 more eye surgeries and now wears glasses. Thanks to many many sessions of therapy she has regained all of her movement except her right ankle. She wears an othopedic brace on that foot. She is only delayed by about 3 or 4 months. The only other issue she has, is that her skull stopped growing. It has only grown 1 cm since she was shaken, and neuroligests say it will never grow and if it does at most only 2-3 cm more. She is a very happy child, and stronger then most people could ever be. this has been a learning experience for everyone involved , and will last us our lifetime. Macie was a lucky SB. She survived. And i believe she saved other childrens lives by sacrificing part of hers. This woman will never be allowed to hurt another child, thanks to my little hero *****UPDATE 7-14-04***** Macie turnedl 5 on November 13th. Since the information givin above Macie has been diagnosed with ADHD, and Impulse Disorder. She was taking meds 3 times a day to control her behavior and sees a pediatric neuropsychiatrist regualrly. As of May 2004 she is now off all medications, except an anti-biotic for Kidney problems. Macie has proven herself to be a very bright child...currently she can spell 7 words and even knows her phone numberand address. She will be starting Kindergarten this fall right on schedual!!! She underwent surgery again on Oct 30th 2002, this time on her right leg. She needed her heel cord legthened. Since that surgery she still wears her AFO(leg brace) and has needed only 1 BoTox treatment. She recieves PT regularily and her leg has been good. Her eyes are still the same, and she still wears her glasses but she has not needed another eye surgery as of yet. She is still the light of my life!!!! |
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