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RED ROCK NEWS, Sedona, Arizona Friday, January 7, 2000 Beating the odds |
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        info@thoughtfield therapy.net |
The crowded assembly at Dr. Daniel
Bright Elementary School exploded into deafening applause and shouts when the name of the
Little Bear student for the Month for December was announced. "Our Little Bear of the Month is one of great courage and perseverance. He inspires us, and we can all learn from Brian Connolly's positive example," Stacey Kramer told the assembly. Kramer is a teacher at the school. The school's mascot is a bear. The students parted to clear the center aisle but kept up their cheers as the brown- hairdo 9-year-old slowly made his way to the front of the cafeteria to receive his award. It was a long walk for Connolly, helped by a special education aide, but he made it and accepted the adulation of his fellow students, teachers and several parents in attendance. The noise stopped only briefly while Connolly said, "Thank you," through a Dynamite machine. The Dynamite is a communication system that uses computer programming to help a non-speaking person "speak" through a computerized voice, said Becky Armstrong, Connolly's aide. "Brian picks out a subject he wants to talk about and points to words to make sentences," Armstrong said. Brian is not able to speak because of complications associated with diabetes. That Brian could even be around to accept an award at school, is a miracle to his parents, Bruce and Maria Connolly. The couple said goodbye to their son two years ago, when the doctors removed the life support machines. They were sure he was going to die. The then 7-year-old boy lay in a hospital bed at Phoenix Children's hospital in a coma-type state. He was suffering from a complication of juvenile diabetes. He had been there for two months. "They told us there was no brain activity and he would not survive without the machine to help him breathe," said Bruce. Apparently there was some brain activity, though, because Brian kept on breathing --without the machines. "He actually did better off life support. He breathed better," said Maria. Her eyes brightened as she looked at her son. Brian sat on the living room floor beating a drum. "He's remarkable. He keeps improving," she said. On March 9, 1998, the Connollys took Brian to the doctor with what they thought were flu symptoms: a fever, aching muscles, listlessness and a stuffy head. What was really wrong was that Brian had juvenile diabetes and suffered specifically from ketoacidosis. Maria said there is no history of diabetes in the family. "It looks like the flu, but what's really happening is you're starving. Your blood is loaded with sugar, but you can't use it because your pancreas isn't producing insulin to turn the sugar into energy," said Bruce. Without insulin to turn glucose (sugar) into energy, the glucose piles up in the bloodstream, according to information in the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Complete Home Medical Guide, third edition. Because the body cannot utilize the sugar, it spills over into the urine and is lost. If the blood glucose is too high and inadequate insulin is available to utilize the sugar, the body begins to break down fat and muscle tissue for fuel, according to the guide. Weakness, weight loss and excessive hunger and thirst are among the consequences. The Connolly's doctor sent them to Verde Valley Medical Center the day Brian got sick. The same night, a helicopter flew the family down to Phoenix Children's Hospital. Brian had slipped into a coma- like state. For the next two months, Brian lay in bed, motionless, and breathed and ate with the help of machines. The doctors and the Connollys made the difficult decision to stop the life support and let their son go. ' "They said it would only take a few minutes," said Maria. But it did not happen. Three weeks later, after Brian kept breathing on his own, doctors told the Connollys to go ahead and take their son home. "We expected him to die. They told us he would, but he just kept getting better," said Bruce. She was absolutely sure he was improving after an incident that happened once he was home in Cottonwood. Brian was lying on the floor and Maria's granddaughter, then two and a half years old, was playing near him. "She went over and did a raspberry on his stomach and he laughed. It was a good sign. He just kept getting better and better from then on," said Maria, beaming. Brian's improvement was so good, infact, he returned to school in November of 1998. He started with two hours a day because he would get tired. Now, Brian attends classes full time in the third grade at Dr. Daniel Bright Elementary School. Brain had to learn everything all over again from the beginning. "Technically, he had to learn how to breathe. Then his heart had to learn how to beat right, and, gradually, movement came back," said Bruce. "The doctors are all amazed. They can't believe it. He's already gone past expectations. Even that he's alive is past what we expected," he said of his son. "We have to take him back to children's hospital and show him off," added Maria. It has been a long road for the family these past two years, and Brian still is in the process of re-learning all of the things a little boy of 9 needs to know and do. Brian is just learning how to walk again and is trying to speak. He can almost say, "Mom." But lack of audible words is not necessary for Brian to communicate. At school, he learned sign language. One time, Maria said she saw evidence that her son still had a sense of humor. "He wanted something to eat at 9 p.m., and I hadn't gotten it for him yet. Well, he signed he was going to die from hunger and fell on the floor, moaning -- and grinning," Maria said. Brian smiled at the story and motioned for his mother to join him on the floor. As she slipped from her chair, he signed the title of a song. She started to sing the words as Brian beat the rhythm on the drum, raising the mallet high every few beats for emphasis. "We do this a lot," Maria said. Before Brian learned to sign, the Connollys, along with Brian, felt frustrated. They knew their son was trying to tell them something, but they did not understand what he wanted. "His signing has really helped. He signs a lot, but then he talked a lot before, too. We used to talk together a lot. Brian was my little chatterbox," said Maria, who is a teacher at Cottonwood Elementary School. "Now, with the signing and the Dynamite box, we're back to talking," she said. Brian also liked to ride his bicycle with his best buddy, Lewis, running alongside. Lewis is the family's Lhasa apso. "He used to ride all over the place, but he'd check in every 15 minutes or so to let me know where he was," Maria said. Brian is on a program to deal with the diabetes and shows steady improvement. Maria gives her son two insulin injections a day and makes sure he follows a strict diet and exercises every day. "It was hard at first. I didn't want to poke him, but you have to learn how to be a nurse," said Maria. A large group of volunteers helps with Brian's recovery. People from Sedona, St. John Vianney Catholic Church and Cottonwood come every week to assist with his exercises, along with students from the massage school in Sedona. The Boy Scouts came to cut and trim the Connollys lawn. It had overgrown while they were with Brian in Phoenix. "People have been real helpful and we want to thank them for their support. We want to let them know Brian's doing well," Maria said. "There's no way we could ever leave Cottonwood now. The people here are so great," added Bruce. Despite everything he went through and the hardships he has had to face, Brian remains happy -- he said so by using the sign for "happy." "He's never had a hard day. Well, maybe exercise day. That's trying. He moans and groans some, but he's always happy after- ward," said Maria. Brian also was happy to be chosen Little Bear of the Month at his school. The Connollys are no longer worried about their son dying, and they have high hopes for his future -- so does Brian. He signed that he wants to be a fireman when he grows up ... and a pilot, he added. "We think he'll even walk on his own some day," said Bruce. "He's our little Energizer battery. He keeps going and going, and doesn't give up," Maria said. |
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