About My Daughter
Bridget
She was born in May, 1981 in Texas.
Her father was an MP in the United States Army at the
time. Her father and I split up in 1982 and
Bridget and I moved back to New York where we lived until she left for college in North Carolina last August. I joined her in North Carolina in July, 2000. Her father stayed in Texas where he remarried
and
gave Bridget a half brother, Christopher, and a half
sister, Ashley. Her father is a police officer.
Bridget has been back to Texas many times
to visit her father, the first trip she took alone
was at
the age of 5 and has been back many times. She went to France
three years ago come April with the school for Easter
vacation and had the time of her life. She's hoping to be able to study there at some point during the next few years.
Her interests are Basketball, music,
drawing/painting, reading and dancing. She is an
avid New
York Knicks fan. Her favorite type of music is
Alternative but also
enjoys Rap music and Dance music. She loves to read
mysteries.
About my daughter Bridget....
Bridget is now a Senior at a University here in North Carolina and I'm very proud to say, is doing an outstanding job. She currently is holding a 3.6 GPA while holding down a part-time job and has a steady boyfriend. She is majoring in English - Writing. She will graduate in just a few weeks.
What is really special about my daughter
though is
what she has been through in the short 19 years of
her
life. At the age of 10, she became very ill running
high fevers and a lump appeared on the side of her
neck. We spent two
weeks going back and forth to her Pediatrician. She
finally admitted her into
the hospital where Bridget spent another two weeks
being poked and prodded.
They released her only to re-admit her for surgery.
They removed a larger than golf size lump from her
neck/throat area. She recovered beautifully from the
surgery.
At the age of 12 Bridget was diagnosed with Scoliosis. We searched for a doctor to treat the Scoliosis - unfortunately there were none in our area that would touch her. We finally hooked up with a Doctor in Manhattan. We were all set for surgery (was headed for the bank to take out a loan to pay what my insurance wouldn't pay) when a friend of my family's recommended the Shriners. He sponsored Bridget and away we went to Shriners Childrens Hospital in Philadelphia, PA.
They watched Bridget for a short while. She had a growth spurt and her scoliosis went from "lets watch it for a little while" to "lets prepare for surgery". She had what is called a Anterior Spinal Fusion in March of 1994 at St. Christopher's Childrens Hospital in Philadelphia. The doctor broke several of her ribs, collapsed her right lung and straightened out her spinal cord and used Harrington Rods and several screws to keep her spinal cord straight. She recovered nicely or so we thought. The pain did not go away and she was still very uncomfortable.
She
developed Kyphosis of the Spine (very rare to get
both) and
she ended up having a second surgery in August, 1997
at
St. Christopher's Childrens Hospital where her
doctor, Randall Betz performed both an Anterior Spinal
Fusion removal and a Posterior Spinal Fusion. She
was in
surgery for almost 14 hours. (Both surgeries were
her
choice!!!!!) In this surgery they did almost the
identical
to the first except they removed the Anterior rods,
closed her back up, turned her on her belly, made an
incision at the base of
her neck down to her tail bone, manipulated the
spinal cord
again straightening it out and putting the rods and
screws behind the spinal cord where in the first
surgery
they put the rods in front of the spinal cord.
Believe it or not, she was out of bed walking
after only 3 days.
During surgery, she grew four inches so you can
imagine how messed up her spine
really was. It is now three years post-op and she is
doing
wonderfully!!!!!
Maybe I should share with you why I am telling you Bridget's story. I want people to be aware of how wonderful the Shriners Childrens Hospitals are to children. They have not only saved me and my insurance company hundreds of thousands of dollars but I also believe they have saved her life. I believe that if it were not for them, she would either be paralyzed by now, if not dead.They took her in with only a minimum of questions, didn't matter how much money I made, only that she had a health problem and was under the age of 21. She has now been a Shriners Kid for almost 7 years and I will be forever grateful!! I could go on and on about Shriners.... (that could take days, lol) if you have any questions regarding them, please e-mail me.
Update.....October, 2003.......Bridget is now 22 yrs old and a graduate of NC State University....I am sooooo proud of her. She is currently back home with us and busy applying to grad school to continue her studies. She has aspirations of getting her Doctorate and being a college professor of English. hehe I think she's gonna make it.
Update.....January, 2006........Bridget is now 24 years old and is in her second year of graduate school at Boston College. She had a Writing Fellowship last year and this year has a Teaching Fellowship. She is doing fantastic. She will graduate with her Masters Degree in May and wants to come back to North Carolina and get an Adjunct Professorship at a college here in NC before continuing with her PhD. Her health is good and she's very active. Thank you again Dr. Betz and staff from the bottom of my heart.
Me
| My Norwegian Heritage | Anthony's Page |
| My Links | My Webrings |
| Our Family | Back to Mom's Page |
Shriners Home Page Another Shriners
Site Bridget's Home Page© 1997 manona@geocities.
com
|
Read
my Dreambook! Sign my Dreambook! |  |
Get your own Free Home
Page