BRAIN INJURY A season of recovery

By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
AKRON -- Most of the pink ribbons that once adorned trees, lampposts, front porches and picket fences in Leetonia last year are gone now, but Emily Ayers and her family are still celebrating.
In the days after Emily was severely injured in a car crash March 7, 2003, that killed her uncle, people in Leetonia -- the community, the school, St. Patrick's parish and the Revs. Ed Brienz and Tom Ungashick -- rallied around Emily's family emotionally and financially.
They started a bank fund to help with the hospital bills. They passed out small pink bows for people to wear and large pink bows to put just about everywhere throughout the village as a sign of support and hope that Emily would recover.
Easter will be an extra-special day to celebrate, because it was Easter 2003 when Emily, then 11, spoke for the first time in weeks, a sign of hope that she would recover from a severe brain injury.
Emily made good progress in her recovery, and with home tutoring in the months after the crash, she was able to start school in the fall, where she entered the sixth grade. Now she is looking forward to summer, when schoolwork will give way to days of roller blading, bike riding, and most of all, swimming.
Emily, now 12, is the daughter of Cynthia Ayers of Leetonia and Gary Hahn of Cleveland.
Recently, Emily and Cynthia were at Akron Children's Hospital for a visit to Dr. Philipp Aldana, assistant director of pediatric neurosurgery.
Remembering the crash
While they waited in an exam room, Cynthia talked about the days after the crash -- days Emily doesn't remember -- when Emily was hooked to monitors, a ventilator and intravenous tubes, and no one, not even the Akron Children's Hospital doctors, knew if she'd survive.
Emily was injured in a crash at the intersection of state Route 14 and Butcher Road on the east side of Salem, a common route between Salem and Leetonia.
One of three medical helicopters that rushed victims to area hospitals landed a few yards from the intersection at the newly built Wal-Mart that had not yet opened.
Cynthia doesn't like to talk about the crash and still drives out of her way to avoid that area.
After surgery performed by Dr. Aldana, it was 22 days after the crash that Emily emerged from the coma and began breathing on her own. On Good Friday, she was transported from Akron Children's Hospital to a rehabilitation hospital in Pittsburgh called The Children's Institute.
In just two days at The Children's Institute, Emily showed great improvement, and on Easter Sunday, she started speaking and interacting.
Emotional moment
"What did you say?" Cynthia asked Emily as they waited during the recent hospital visit.
"Mom-m-m-m-m-y," Emily said.
"That's right," Cynthia said, her own voice cracking. "That was her first word. It was such a miracle."
"She's going to cry," Emily observed. "Aw, Mom, don't cry."
While waiting for Dr. Aldana, Emily talked about Cleveland Indians baseball and about her friends at school -- and dispensed advice about boys.
"If you 'like' someone, then you just want them to be your friend," Emily said matter-of-factly. "When you 'like like' someone, that means you want them to be your boyfriend."
Emily said her favorite subject in school is science, and she also enjoys lunch.
"She loves junk food," Cynthia said.
Emily wants to be a cheerleader for Leetonia's Bears sports teams and practiced a cheer in the exam room.
A mother's concerns
During the exam, Cynthia told Dr. Aldana she is still concerned that Emily has not cried since the crash. She said Emily has pinched her fingers in the car door and been in other situations in which she would normally cry, but she has not.
Dr. Aldana said he has never seen that particular problem before with a brain-injured child but explained that each brain injury is different. He said there is nothing physically wrong that Emily can't produce tears, but the message to cry and produce tears isn't being received.
"The doctors said with a brain injury, Emily could be different, that her personality might change," Cynthia said. "I was really afraid of that. That's what scared me the most, but she's the same Emily."
Since that Easter weekend in 2003, Emily has continued to make significant progress and is receiving support through the Traumatic Brain Injury Program at Akron Children's Hospital. The hospital also assigns a social worker for each patient, and Emily has a mentor at her school.
Community still supportive
The residents of Leetonia who rallied around Emily and her mom last year continue to support the family in whatever way they can.
Cynthia said there's nothing big planned for Easter because Emily, Cynthia and an extended family of more than 20 people gathered at an area restaurant to celebrate Emily's survival and her continued recovery.
"Emily's our Easter miracle -- my beautiful, loving little girl," Cynthia said. "We just take one day at a time."
tullis@vindy.com