Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
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Sunday, January 15, 2006
By GINNY WRAY - Bulletin Staff Writer
While 6-year-old Morgan Dunnigan struggles in a Baltimore rehabilitation institute to get her body to "wake up," her classmates and family's friends back in Martinsville are trying to help the family cope with an uncertain future.
Morgan, the daughter of Colin and Laura Dunnigan of Martinsville, is undergoing rehabilitation for paralysis in the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore following an operation on Dec. 12 which removed 98 percent of a tumor in her spinal cord, according to her father.
"She's doing better than her parents," he said Saturday. "We have some hopeful neurological signs within Morgan that leave us prayerful but optimistic about what her future holds."
The Dunnigans' ordeal is every parent's nightmare. It began with Morgan complaining of an itching sensation on the right side of her neck.
"By the time she got to Baptist, she had seen three pediatricians, been referred to an ear, nose and throat doctor, been referred to a dermatologist and visited a psychologist," said Dunnigan, who is the upper division director and college counselor at Carlisle School, where Morgan is a first-grader.
Finally, an MRI exam was scheduled. But, before that, Morgan had a "horrific night of pain" which, Dunnigan said, they now have learned is a typical sign of a tumor such as Morgan's. "She missed school. This is a child who loves school. It was the second day she would have missed, and my wife said, 'Will you go to the hospital?' Morgan said 'yes,'" her father recalled.
On Thursday, Dec. 8, they went to the Wake Forest University North Carolina Baptist Medical Center where "one of those angels," Dr. David Magilner, agreed to do an MRI, although it was unusual for an emergency room patient, Dunnigan said. That was when they found the tumor.
Surgery was scheduled for the following Monday, Dec. 12. Throughout the weekend Morgan's pain became more intense to the point where she was treated with morphine, he said.
As she slept that Sunday night, Morgan lost feeling and movement in her extremities, Dunnigan said. "It was pretty awful," he said.
But it got worse. "The time prior to surgery was very scary," he said, adding that at one point, Morgan told them she could not breathe because, they found, her oxygen level had dropped "precipitously."
"We very honestly worried whether we would see her alive again" when Morgan went into the operating room, Dunnigan said.
Family members from as close as North Carolina and as far as California, Minister Randy Stevens from First Presbyterian Church in Martinsville and friends helped sustain the couple. Dunnigan said Chris Wingfield, a member of First Presbyterian, works in the pediatric operating room and "was standing there as my wife and I were sobbing as she went into surgery. It was amazing to see someone we knew," Dunnigan said.
When the operation was over six hours later, Morgan's first words were to ask when she was having surgery. Her parents told her it was over and she said she wanted to go home. She had no breathing assistance at that time Ñ but also no sensation in her extremities, her father said.
That night, breathing and feeding tubes were inserted. Morgan later developed fluid in her lungs, which is a major concern in people with paralysis because it can lead to pneumonia, Dunnigan said.
Doctors told the Dunnigans they had removed 98 percent of the tumor.
"We were blessed to have a tumor that should only require monitoring from this point. That was positive," Dunnigan said. "I felt a certain peace after the surgery and her loss of motor functioning that the tumor would be OK and God blessed us with the best type of astrocytoma we could have.
"Since then, her recovery has been wonderful," he said.
Morgan is breathing on her own and has no intravenous tubes. She still is fed through a tube but she also is eating strawberries, Fruit Loops cereal and ice cream and drinking "tons of water," her father said.
"Her spirits are far better," he said. "Christmas was especially difficult but since then her spirits have steadily improved."
On Tuesday, Morgan left Brenner Children's Hospital, which is associated with Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, N.C., and was flown to the Kennedy Krieger Institute, which is associated with Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore.
There, she is under going occupational therapy, which involves fine motor skills and skills needed in daily life, and physical therapy, which stimulates the nerves that control the muscles in her toes, feet and quadriceps, Dunnigan said. It also helps her become more upright in her bed and wheelchair, he said.
"She is a very willing participant in her daily therapies here," which also include speech, language and respiratory therapy, he said.
Dunnigan added that Morgan suffered no cognitive or brain problems. "She's a smart young girl" who is doing well, he added.
But the move to Baltimore has been difficult for Dunnigan and his wife. They are further from home, where Laura Dunnigan's parents, the Rev. Russ Ingersoll and his wife, Pat, are caring for the Dunnigan's 15-month-old son, Connor.
Baltimore also is more urban and there are different schedules and routines to adjust to, said Dunnigan. He has been staying at a Ronald McDonald House while his wife spends the night in Morgan's room; this week they will switch.
And until Friday, the couple was without the nearly constant access to the Internet they had been accustomed to. The Dunnigans or Ingersoll have provided nearly daily updates on Morgan's condition on the Web site, www.zebray.com.
"This web site has been an instrument of grace, our lifeline, linking us to that 'great cloud of witnesses' which we know surrounds us but which through this Web site can speak directly to us. We turn to you in the middle of the night when fear and apprehension overtake us. Your words comfort us, reminding that though we may be walking through the valley of the shadow, we are not alone. God is with us and he has sent you, his angels, to walk with us," the Dunnigans wrote in a recent update. (See excerpt.)
Friends of Morgan and the Dunnigans also use the Web site to leave messages of concern and support. Between 3:45 p.m. Friday and 12:12 p.m. Saturday, 50 messages had been left.
"Another day another step forward," one message was titled. Another suggested that people keep their homes' porch lights on until Morgan comes home. Another told of her friends' comings and goings.
The Dunnigans read some of the messages to Morgan. "Sometimes she wants to hear the messages; sometimes she does not," her father said.
She does not understand the idea of being homesick and has not talked about going home since she left Winston-Salem, her father said. But she understands what has happened.
"She said her goal is to learn to walk again. She knows, and how we talk about it, is that we want to help her body wake up," Dunnigan said.
The Dunnigans are scheduled to meet with Morgan's treatment team on Tuesday to discuss her status and treatment goals. Dunnigan said for now, they have no idea how long they will be at Kennedy Krieger.
"We don't know what the future for her holds in terms of what her needs will be long term," he said, adding that the family has insurance but it likely will not cover all their expenses.
That is why he appreciates a fund that has been set up by Richard Hall and Manly Boyd through First Presbyterian Church. Donations may be mailed to the church at 1901 Patrick Henry Ave., Martinsville, Va., 24112.
Also, Carlisle School will hold Morgan Dunnigan Night on Tuesday, when the proceeds of basketball games will be donated to the fund.
The reaction to their experience has overwhelmed, but not necessarily surprised, the Dunnigans. It also has allowed them to focus all their energy on their daughter.
" ... What we've recognized in 2 1/2 years (since moving to Martinsville) is the sense of community within Martinsville and Henry County and within Carlisle," Dunnigan said. It was something he had not experienced growing up in Dallas, Texas, or Asheville, N.C., where they previously lived, he added.
"The sense of care, the sense of ongoing concern, the generosity, the desire to do anything people can to help has been miraculous," he said. "People bring food to my in-laws. We had a couple of students from Carlisle and their parents clean the gutters and roof (of the Dunnigan home). We didn't ask; they just did it.
"What that town has done for us has meant more than we ever could have imagined," he added |
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