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From the Editor: Pediatric Innovations Bring Hope, Healing to Families
By Tina Eichner  I often wonder how different life might have been
for my family. In 1968 my parents and my older brother awaited the
April birth of their second child.
Tragically, a 2½-lb. boy was born in late February, seven
weeks too soon. His lungs were not ready and due to oxygen
deprivation at birth, he suffered severe brain damage. Dominic
lived only two days in an incubator.
Three healthy children followed in later years. I was next, then
my sister and later another brother.
The whole family went each year to Dominic's grave. From the
time I could stand, I remember my older brother--a young child
himself--helping my Dad plant flowers at a small headstone engraved
with an angel. I could particularly sense the loss felt by my older
brother, a feeling that I then did not quite understand. A feeling
of "what might have been." Today his own son is named Dominic.
As a child, I knew to feel sad for the brother I would never
know, but also in those moments I had my first assurances that
there was another place and another being taking care of things,
and that it was good.
My parents were told that had Dominic lived, he would have been
a child with special needs. In the late 1960s, family support
systems and educational programs for special-needs children were
few. Modern medicine has not yet been able to prevent some children
from entering this world with special needs, but fortunately
society has caught up.
My family did not move to Broomfield, Colorado, from Denver
until the early 1970s. Had Dominic lived, maybe we would have moved
sooner. At the time there was a small school in the city started by
a group of families with children with special needs, a unique
early education center in the entire state, one that integrated
typical children with special-needs children in the same
classrooms, called Bal Swan Children's Center.
My husband and I have been blessed with two wonderful, beautiful
daughters. They are both typical children. I am thankful each day
for their health. Both of my girls attended Bal Swan as
presechoolers, and I became a volunteer there because (selfishly) I
liked the way our involvement enriched our lives. I like to think
that part of the reason I felt drawn to the program is because of
my baby brother.
It is not lost on me that the school would have been an
invaluable resource for our family. I think about it often, even as
I continue to volunteer, now that my children have moved on to
elementary school.
Dominic ended up in another place, that, at the time, might have
been better for him.
Thankfully, today there are many similar educational and support
programs and countless medical solutions to improve the lives of
those children who enter the world with special circumstances.
Complex solutions for complicated problems. Children present
unique treatment challenges and yield exceptional rewards. Thank
goodness for today's pediatric remedies. We hope you enjoy our
pediatric coverage this month.
Editor's Note: Orthopaedically challenged
children present special treatment situations due to size and
growth issues among other factors. The physicians, nurses,
orthotists, prosthetists, therapists, and other rehabilitative
professionals who specialize in treating children with limb
deficiencies are meeting this month in Sacramento, California, for
the Association of Children's Prosthetic-Orthotic Clinics (ACPOC)
Annual Meeting. In this special section of The O&P
EDGE focusing on O&P work in pediatrics, Sherry Metzger
writes about how a multidisciplinary approach to spina bifida can
improve the patient's quality of life; Judith Philipps Otto
explores how expandable internal prostheses are being used
as an alternative to amputation for children suffering from
osteosarcoma; and Miki Fairley looks into a study examining the effectiveness of cranial
remolding helmets in treating positional plagiocephaly. 
Table Of Contents - May 2006
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