A tragedy - Think of Kendra when you feel down about MC

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 7:52 pm

Kendra is a 14 year-old girl at the school where my daughter teaches and was her student last year. She was attending a party to celebrate the end of the school year last Friday at a home in the neighborhood. Kendra and a few friends were sitting on a hammock strung between two brick pillars. Suddenly, the pillars collapsed, injuring the girls sitting in the hammock. The other girls suffered cuts and scratches, but the bricks hit Kendra's head and broke her neck.

She was the fastest runner on the track team - now she'll never be able to walk again. She's had two surgeries to repair her neck but isn't able to move her limbs. She seems to be paralyzed from the chest down. One lung is collapsed, and she's unable to breathe on her own. She can't speak right now, and she communicates with her parents by spelling. She closes her eye when they mention an appropriate letter of the alphabet. It's tedious, but at least she's able to communicate. She's unable to eat.

Hopefully she will regain some physical abilities. I sent my daughter some articles about Charles Krauthammer, a well-known syndicated columnist, who suffered a spinal cord injury when he was a 21 year-old medical student. He is in a wheelchair and has managed to live a productive life.

Kendra needs our prayers. I can't stop thinking about how drastically her life changed and what she must be feeling. When I suffer a setback in my MC, I count my blessings and think of Kendra.

Gloria

Kari · Post by **Kari** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 8:34 pm

My goodness - what an unspeakable tragedy. That sure puts our complaints into perspective. Hope Kendra can get back some semblance of a life given time and perseverance. Life is so very fragile - we have to be grateful for every moment of feeling relatively well.

Love,
Kari

JoAnn · Post by **JoAnn** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 9:18 pm

Gloria, I have realized that I don't have to look very far to find others who are suffering in some way. I think that's one of the blessings I have found by having MC. I think I was a compassionate person before, but having MC has deepened this and I find myself much more sensitive and aware of what others might be going through. What a tragedy for such a young girl. I will add her to my prayers and hope she will find her way to the different life she will now live with God's help.
Love JoAnn

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Sat Jun 04, 2011 9:57 pm

I found the same thing about myself, JoAnn. I, too, will pray for Kendra. Please update us, Gloria, as she progresses.

starfire · Post by **starfire** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:54 am

Thanks for the reminder of how blessed we are overall.

Prayers are definitely needed here for herself and her family.

Love, Shirley

sarkin · Post by **sarkin** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 8:09 am

What a wrenching story for this girl, and her community. Our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family (and those other girls, this must be very traumatic for them).

dgshelton · Post by **dgshelton** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 11:17 am

My heart goes out to Kendra and her family. May God give them comfort as they deal with this tragic ordeal. Kendra sounds like she is a strong girl. I will pray that she finds that strength to endure what life has in store for her.

Life is so unfair sometimes!

Hugs,

fudette · Post by **fudette** » Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:45 pm

What a tragic accident; my thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family. Although it's always good to count your blessings something like this makes you even more thankful for the blessings you have in life.

ant · Post by **ant** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 4:35 am

I add my thoughts and prayers to Kendra and her family.

Life is such a precious gift. I hope Kendra and her family find the support and strength they need.

Best wishes, Ant

MaggieRedwings · Post by **MaggieRedwings** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 5:31 am

Kendra is definitely in my prayers. It just shows that we never know what a day holds for us. MC is a bad disease but I just have to look at many people I meet and know that I am in a much better eay and that I am blessed. Please keep us posted on her condition. Such a tragedy for one so young.

Love, Maggie

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 9:29 pm

I thought I would give an update on Kendra's progress. It has been 13 weeks since her accident and she has progressed quite a bit.

This is from a CarePages blog for her:

She broke her cervical neck bones 6&7, crushing her spinal cord to a pulp, she also got a laceration on her head from her forehead to the back of her skull, she broke her ribs,her scapula, clavicle,and her spine. Her neck was put back together with plates and screws. Her injury is complete, meaning that she is quadriplegic.

Kendra is very strong willed and loves life. She is outgoing and very athletic. She is also a Honor Roll student.

Kendra has soooo many people supporting her. You guys are great and we find strength in your prayers and thoughts.

Today she is able to hold up her neck, breathe without a trachea, eats anything she wants and communicates as she always has - by speaking. She can't flex her fingers and doesn't have use of her legs, but she can move her arms and wrists. Before she was off the trachea, she communicated using an iPad. They strap a pen to her hand and she selects the letters. Perhaps this is the way she will do her school work. As a former math teacher, I'm wondering how she will be able to do math problems without being able to write. I'm sure she'll find a way.

She has been on outings in their van and has gone to shopping malls with her family. She will be leaving the hospital soon to go home and return to school. Her parents are adapting their home to accommodate her wheelchair. They have three other children; Kendra is the oldest. A woman with a similar injury who is a motivational speaker came to visit Kendra and gave her a lot of hope.

She says that training for sports was very easy compared to the physical therapy she does now. Just moving her legs up to put her shoes and socks on is a very difficult task.

I still pray for her and still remind myself that my MC problems are very minor when I compare them to Kendra's situation. I'm in awe of how much she has accomplished and her determination to make the most of her disabilities.

Gloria

MBombardier · Post by **MBombardier** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 10:50 pm

Thanks for posting this update, Gloria. I have prayed for Kendra, and thought about her a lot, wondering how she is doing. Was the woman who came to see her Joni Earickson Tada, by chance?

garina · Post by **garina** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 1:00 pm

Gloria,

I'm so happy to hear that Kendra is regaining some movement. It's such a tragedy what she has had to endure, and I hope PT continues to help her gain some of her old life back.

We all have no problems compared to this beautiful, brave little girl.

Sending prayers her way.

garina

Martha · Post by **Martha** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 2:47 pm

Dear Gloria,

Thanks for the update on Kendra. She sounds like an amazing young lady--so strong and determined. I know this is hard for the whole family, and will continue to keep them in my prayers.

Love,
Martha

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 4:17 pm

Marliss,

The motivational speaker's name is Meg Johnson. If you're interested, her website has a video clip of her going grocery shopping in a wheelchair using a combination of her wrists and hands to grab the groceries: http://www.megjohnsonspeaks.com/

This is what Kendra's blog says:

Meg Johnson came today and really gave us a lot of helpful tips and inspiration! She has the best smile ever! We found out about some useful surgeries (for example, moving tendons to make her grip better) that she has had that give her more freedom and independence. We will definitely be asking the doctors more about the procedures and if they could be done now or not.

Kendra is certainly trying to triumph over this tragedy. She will be in my daughter's computer class next semester. I think she'll be able to use a mouse. She should be able to use voice recognition to help her type sentences. Every little bit will help her to become independent.

Thank you everyone for your prayers.

Gloria