Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
Toll Free: 800-234-6575
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Monday, March 20, 2006
By GINNY WRAY - Bulletin Staff Writer
Three months after she was unable to "beat gravity" with virtually any part of her body, Morgan Dunnigan is mobile, in a fashion.
The 6-year-old, who has been undergoing therapy since a tumor was removed from her spinal cord in December, can move in a wheelchair and a walker and is starting to move in a tricycle on her own power, according to her father, Colin Dunnigan.
"She's further along in her physical capabilities than I might have expected," he said Saturday from Baltimore, Md., where Morgan is undergoing rehabilitation at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. "To see what she has done based on everything we've read based on spinal cord injuries, she has exceeded expectations."
More importantly, Dunnigan said, Morgan has exceeded her parents' expectations in her resolve to improve.
"When she came she was overcome with fear at the prospect of even sitting up even for a minute," he said. Now, "she is the one who has helped to make her therapist push her further because she has gained so much more confidence and control and strength that she rarely complains about what she's going through."
The Martinsville family's ordeal began with Morgan complaining of an itching sensation on the right side of her neck. After numerous doctors' visits, the tumor was discovered in her spinal cord. Ninety-eight percent of it was removed in a Dec. 12 operation at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina.
Morgan remained there until Jan. 10, when she was flown to Baltimore to continue therapy, with her father and mother, Laura, constantly at her side.
Her therapy starts around 8:30 each weekday morning. She has occupational, physical, speech and language and recreational therapy, as well as 30 minutes of school and about 90 minutes for lunch, before finishing around 4:30 p.m.
She is "making consistent gains in strength and control, particularly above the waist," Colin Dunnigan said.
She can move in her power-assisted wheelchair, pushing the wheels until a motor kicks in. Two or three days a week, she works on a tricycle and is "starting to be able to move on her own power," her father said.
Using splints to keep Morgan's feet pointed forward, she can walk up to 45 feet in a walker with a therapist steadying her, he said. She also can initiate virtually all her steps on a treadmill in which about 50-75 percent of her weight is suspended.
"Two therapists help keep her feet headed forward to retrain her muscles and nerves how to walk properly," Colin Dunnigan said.
The Dunnigans are not sure if Morgan will walk on her own in the future. "We know she will need for an undetermined amount of time some braces or other assistance -- a walker, canes -- with her walking. We expect her wheelchair will be used for quite some time," he said.
Other improvements may be less dramatic but no less important.
"She's working on brushing her own teeth. She can't quite squeeze the toothpaste on her own, so we help," Colin Dunnigan said. Morgan wipes her own face afterwards.
For at least one meal a day, she can pick up and feed herself strawberries, carrots and chips, her father said as Morgan ate a peanut butter sandwich.
Morgan gets sad at night when she is tired, but for the most part her "spirits are as good as they've been since Dec. 12 when she had surgery," Colin Dunnigan said
"She wakes up in a good mood. She goes through therapies very willingly. She does not protest much at all about doing particular exercises," except when they work on her left hand and left arm, he said.
"She is interacting very well with other patients here. She gets down and sad sometimes about missing home and about why this happened but that does not persist," he added.
The Dunnigans have been by Morgan's side throughout the ordeal, except two nights when Laura's mother stayed with her. But Morgan often orders them out when she has speech and language, and occupational and recreational therapy.
"She wants her independence," her father said. "Sometimes we observe without her knowledge and we are very pleased with how she does."
The Kennedy Krieger staff also is pleased, and has moved Morgan's release date from April 11 to May 2. While Morgan protested that was a long way off, "she recognizes that she's more than halfway finished," her father said.
"For reasons of her best physical restoration and inpatient insurance coverage, we want her (to remain an) inpatient as long as possible," Colin Dunnigan said. "The staff wants her here longer because the gains she's making are very positive."
As Morgan improves, the Dunnigans are looking forward. Colin soon will return to Martinsville and Carlisle School, where he has been upper division director and college counselor for more than two years. Morgan, he said, is looking forward to returning to school as well, "more than you could ever imagine."
Dunnigan returned to Carlisle for three days earlier this month and "it was difficult. I felt like a visitor. What I realized is how thankful I am that the staff at school has so willingly and ably assumed my duties and roles in my absence. It was strange to feel so detached from the daily life of the school which I've come to know very well."
Carlisle and its parents have been instrumental in raising more than $130,000 to help the Dunnigans. Money came from Carlisle fundraising events, private and corporate donations and even children's lemonade sales.
"The money that has been raised will allow the Dunnigans to provide Morgan with continued therapy. It will allow them to get the best equipment possible to help her. And it will allow them to make their home much more livable for Morgan," wrote Richard Hall and Manly Boyd of Martinsville, who organized the fund drive, on a Web site following Morgan's progress.
Now, the fund-raising has been stopped "until we know what the ongoing needs for Morgan are ... . The Dunnigans will have a better handle on this in the coming weeks and months and we may well come back and ask for more," Hall and Boyd added. "Until that time, suffice it to say that everyone's generosity has been astounding and the money raised has far exceeded anyone's expectations."
Dunnigan agreed. "I'm astounded," he said. " ... We've not been able to adequately express our gratitude and appreciation for what our family and our friends and the Carlisle School community and Martinsville-Henry County friends and people we know well and never met and what they have meant to us in an exceptionally challenging time. It's just been far beyond anything we ever imagined."
He also admitted that the past three months have changed his wife and him.
"We have a very different perspective on what is important. We have a different perspective on what difficulty and pressure really is. ... It is important that we remember the minor difficulties and stresses of the day are within easy grasp of handling and of a far different nature in terms of real pressure when compared with what we have been through," he said.
"We also recognize that we are not alone in our journey here, that many people are there supporting us.
"Finally, we are thankful for what we have. We watched children die on our unit at Brenner (at Baptist Hospital). There are children here who will leave with little tangible difference physically or otherwise after their stay. Morgan came into KKI unable to beat gravity at anything with her body. She could not move without assistance anything but her neck. She's going to leave far more restored physically than I think anyone here would have imagined when we arrived here Jan. 10," Dunnigan added. |
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