Madison Nicole Kucera
I wanted to share with you my daughter's story.
Madison Nicole Kucera was born May 12, 2003. She weighed 8lbs 3oz and was 19.5 inches long. At the time of her birth, she appeared to be a happy and healthy baby. 36 hours later at 2:00am we discovered that our lives were about to change forever. Madison began twitching and jerking. My fiance and I immediately called a nurse to our room, however she dismissed us as "new parents." That night I took Madison to the nursery for observation. The next morning when I went to get my baby, I heard a nurse say, "It looks like this baby is having a seizure" and then the door slammed in my face.
Twenty minutes later, my perfect little baby was being rushed to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where the doctors preformed many tests. It only took the doctors a few hours to discover that my daughter had suffered a stroke.
I think the thing that scared me the most was when I heard the diagnosis. Both of my grandmothers had died because of strokes, and now my daughter had already had one. There wasn't one doctor who would tell me how this was going to affect my daughter and I was so scared. To make matters worse, Madison's oxygen levels were dangerously low and no one knew why.
My daughter was released from the hospital one week after being admitted to the NICU. When she went home, she was connected to oxygen and an apnea monitor and was prescribed phenobarbitol for her seizures. We went to bi-weekly doctor's appointments and worried that every hiccup was a seizure. Madison is now 18 months and has been seizure free since those days in the hospital. We have been through 3 MRI's, 4 EEG's, and a lot of sleepless nights, but it seems as though she might just pull through this without any major issues.
Every once in a while I hear of another child who has had a stroke and I can't help but cry. When a child has a seizure, his/her future is so unsure. I think Madison was lucky. Her stroke was very minor and she is doing wonderfully, but others are not.
To all of those parents out there who have unfortunately been in the same situation I have...just remember that:
"Your child's flower may take longer to bloom, but it will not be less beautiful than the others."
Amy Vendetti
Thanks to Amy for sending in Madison's profile. Anyone else who would like to share their story can send it along with a photograph (if you're not shy!)
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