Lilyonna's Story Cont.
When I came home from school two hours later he told me that Lilyonna was taking a nap in my room and not to wake her. I noticed that he looked like he was having a great day and nothing was on his mind. I quietly poked my head in my room and saw that Lilyonna was indeed “sleeping” so I continued to let her nap for a little longer. An hour or so went by and I thought to myself that it was not normal for my baby girl to be sleeping this long and that it was time to wake her up. When I entered the room and uncovered Lilyonna, I found her in nothing but a diaper. I lifted her out of bed and noticed that I couldn’t move her arms or legs; she was stiff as a board. I rushed to the living room, where my boyfriend was sitting on the couch, with my unconscious baby in my arms. I asked if anything had happened while I was gone. He said nothing happened and that he had no idea of why she was acting the way she was.
I immediately called my grandma and asked her to come over and to call an ambulance on the way. The ambulance showed up about two minutes after my grandma did. They set my daughter on the couch and started working on her; it was the scariest thing in my life. Next thing I knew I was hearing the paramedics say “we’re losing her; we need to get her to the hospital now!” They made me ride in the front of the ambulance so I couldn’t see what was going on.
The ambulance driver took my daughter to the nearest hospital because he said there wasn’t time to get to the hospital across town that I had requested. Lily quit breathing in the ambulance and was revived.
At the hospital I sat in the waiting room for well over an hour pacing, dying to know what happened to my little girl. Finally Dr. Jutzy, the neurosurgeon who did her surgery, pulled my mom, my grandma and me into the little meeting room in the corner. I still remember his words like it was yesterday. “Ms. Smith there is no easy way to say this; your daughter is in critical condition. What has happened to this baby is very, very serious. I believe she has suffered from shaken baby syndrome. The left side of her brain is swelling and is causing pressure against her skull. I don’t expect her to survive but we are going to perform surgery to remove part of the skull to let her brain swell out. Overall I would give her about a 5% chance to survive this surgery. I’m very sorry.” I immediately fell to the floor in tears. This man was telling me that my baby, my world, was being taken away from me? It wasn’t fair.
I immediately called my grandma and asked her to come over and to call an ambulance on the way. The ambulance showed up about two minutes after my grandma did. They set my daughter on the couch and started working on her; it was the scariest thing in my life. Next thing I knew I was hearing the paramedics say “we’re losing her; we need to get her to the hospital now!” They made me ride in the front of the ambulance so I couldn’t see what was going on.
The ambulance driver took my daughter to the nearest hospital because he said there wasn’t time to get to the hospital across town that I had requested. Lily quit breathing in the ambulance and was revived.
At the hospital I sat in the waiting room for well over an hour pacing, dying to know what happened to my little girl. Finally Dr. Jutzy, the neurosurgeon who did her surgery, pulled my mom, my grandma and me into the little meeting room in the corner. I still remember his words like it was yesterday. “Ms. Smith there is no easy way to say this; your daughter is in critical condition. What has happened to this baby is very, very serious. I believe she has suffered from shaken baby syndrome. The left side of her brain is swelling and is causing pressure against her skull. I don’t expect her to survive but we are going to perform surgery to remove part of the skull to let her brain swell out. Overall I would give her about a 5% chance to survive this surgery. I’m very sorry.” I immediately fell to the floor in tears. This man was telling me that my baby, my world, was being taken away from me? It wasn’t fair.
The surgery would take at least an hour. My family and I spent the time calling friends and family to let them know what happened. Within minutes the waiting room was full of loved ones there to support us. I sat crying in my best friend’s arms for what seemed like hours. All I could do was sit there and wait for someone to tell me that my daughter had either survived the surgery, or died. I prayed and prayed and prayed like the world was going to end. The next thing I knew my best friend’s mom came running to me yelling “she survived the surgery!” Again I fell to the floor in tears. I couldn’t believe it, my baby was alive. I would get to hold her in my arms again. I could continue being a mommy. Dr. Jutzy informed me that much more time spent having a seizure on my bed without medical attention, my daughter would have died.
My daughter spent a month in the hospital hooked up to tubes and laying on ice-packs. Two weeks of that month she spent in an induced coma with her brain swelling out of her skull. When the pediatric ophthalmologist came in to examine Lily, she cried. We were told that if she survived, Lily would live in a vegetative state. That was all we could hope for. Four times I was told it was time to let my baby go. All four times I refused. After two weeks, I got to hold my daughter for the first time when she came out of her coma. Lily underwent another surgery on her brain to replace the missing piece of skull with a titanium plate. She was let out of the hospital a week before her first birthday.
Following her release Lily had two unsuccessful surgeries on her eyes in an attempt to restore her sight. Today Lilyonna is blind, has partial paralysis on her left side and has multiple seizures a day that can no longer be controlled by medication. She has been hospitalized multiple times when we are unable to get her seizures under control. She has been on a special diet, the Ketogenic Diet, which didn’t work for controlling her seizures.
Lilyonna is under the care of six doctors and has weekly visits for physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. She also has regular visits from a vision impairment specialist and a mobility specialist. She wears a brace on her left foot and another one on her left hand.
Every day she fights, and every day she proves the doubters wrong. She has come a long way. The doctors said that she would be a vegetable if she survived, but today she is a toddler learning to walk and talk. She is a little girl whose mommy loves her very much and would do anything to go back to that day and save her from a life sentence. To this day I still hear the sirens of March 16th, 2009; the sound of them slowly getting closer but not fast enough. I have flashbacks whenever a siren passes by. My daughter may be different, but no matter what she is special and more than normal to her mommy.
Following her release Lily had two unsuccessful surgeries on her eyes in an attempt to restore her sight. Today Lilyonna is blind, has partial paralysis on her left side and has multiple seizures a day that can no longer be controlled by medication. She has been hospitalized multiple times when we are unable to get her seizures under control. She has been on a special diet, the Ketogenic Diet, which didn’t work for controlling her seizures.
Lilyonna is under the care of six doctors and has weekly visits for physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. She also has regular visits from a vision impairment specialist and a mobility specialist. She wears a brace on her left foot and another one on her left hand.
Every day she fights, and every day she proves the doubters wrong. She has come a long way. The doctors said that she would be a vegetable if she survived, but today she is a toddler learning to walk and talk. She is a little girl whose mommy loves her very much and would do anything to go back to that day and save her from a life sentence. To this day I still hear the sirens of March 16th, 2009; the sound of them slowly getting closer but not fast enough. I have flashbacks whenever a siren passes by. My daughter may be different, but no matter what she is special and more than normal to her mommy.
Lilyonna will soon undergo surgery to implant a vagus nerve stimulator, a device similar to a pacemaker which will deliver an electrical current every hour. This sometimes is successful to help control seizures. Sometime in the future she will undergo another surgery to replace the plate in her skull as she grows
In the end my (former) boyfriend finally admitted he shook Lilyonna because he got frustrated and he didn’t tell anyone because he didn’t want to get in trouble. He pleaded guilty to two counts of felony injury to a child, one for shaking her and one for failing to seek medical attention after he knew she was injured. He will serve at least three years in prison, with the possibility of up to 20 years. While this is some justice, it doesn’t help Lilyonna at all.
By Breonna Smith (Lilyonna's Mother)
In the end my (former) boyfriend finally admitted he shook Lilyonna because he got frustrated and he didn’t tell anyone because he didn’t want to get in trouble. He pleaded guilty to two counts of felony injury to a child, one for shaking her and one for failing to seek medical attention after he knew she was injured. He will serve at least three years in prison, with the possibility of up to 20 years. While this is some justice, it doesn’t help Lilyonna at all.
By Breonna Smith (Lilyonna's Mother)