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Show Pitting her will powev-agai- nsi a disease, that lether a Mhuman vegetable; a couwgemsAIhymrrold girl keeps ,a V ' By PAT GRANITO as told to Terry Morris N OCTT2, 196171 celebratedTny first rebirthday. For me re- - 0birthisno I aid not know, either, that I was in the grip of a disease which inflames the brain nrefepeechJ-mean- my fight against a disease called sightless, speechless, immobile fancy again. and in- common-Lplacemoveme- , nts "sidetoside inbedrsitrx)r lirdowtrwit- h- out help. I could not reach down and pull n .n' blanket or shift a Dillow-t- o a mor- ecomfortable angle under my head. I could do none of the little things nor could not speak beyond a sort of croak. I could not see near objects at all and distant ones only with distortion. could not walk ex- cept' to take a few staggeringshuffling steps, and I could not makeMore than clumsy, flailing motions withyrms The disease struck -- Sunday evening. - part of "watering the blackness must be death. iToBeihii coma cahbe-asgreaQxle- , ss lit l L V l! i' LachjmnBteofih of large frustrations and small tri- : umphs. I was still onlyx croaking out sounds like a frog. Yet, each day as the doapr came to visit me fie never laiiea to ask: "How are you today?" 1 con- centrated with all my might oh forming one word and, finally, one day I managed to croak: FineT I felt as though I had won an election! I I - ;i .... -, - " ' - , iV- h i- . ' ! : ' s : - jw obbEngnikeJiJ5aliyJlariedJto - 4- take a couple of steps in my room and then , .be any floor under me, but I kept at it, etOngaooowS down andHip, counting each step. Strong arms were Holding me up physically, but" just as important were my parents, and relatives and friends who were holding eup-spiritua- By lly mid-Novemb- the doctors felt that er, Months of hospitalization - - Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at;the New York - Medical Center. Institute-f- was-t- he or Myoctoras wllling--to : r o - r asPtwaIks43uiuaaideji 1 - 7"- - - t v' --- r-e - rr--.-- , " make-th- & ,s ' . -- V v to touch her nose, a sim- pie act she had to relearn. t , d Family Weekly, April 1, 1S62 ; t UPPORTEDnotfUsideAadjflyheai ing as sound sleep. I knew nothing of . necessary referralrbut the Institute had only 111 beds for adult inpatients, and the -- way, poorBilly drove back to the referrals were made from all oveFthe snar.k bar to call .... the rolice foran ambiiT lance.-- I knew nothing. of the conyulsionsvorJd.Jleesampu that racked.my body or , the f utile bang-jmy motherhad already gone back to work to help, finance my hospitalization and ing of my arms and legs. Nor did I know medical bills. Dad was determined, about the' call from Huntington (N.Y.) though-anhe managed to get me ad- .Hospitalto my parents and their despef12 . ! is to aflimMeJMsoJU and bring her back to the living." - 'was-stari- j vege- asv6uwateTher, she'llstarlive Tfelt that rwaslyingona so icy that my whoTeHpTy wasToTcWeir ng intd and rigid to move. I blackness, ah4 I thought thTselneTslind i ; - j -no- w-the-profilem bit dftsavTShe's-aegetablends-lon- g ,' i : dtoutWMinishightndshade Iyda teFBillymdifc the tired from all the dancing at my cousin's wedding thenight before. We stopped at a snack bar for a hamburger as usual and thenIasked to be driven home. I remember-- getting JntoheatajniJeek: ing so weary that I kept rolling over against the car door until Billy asked me to stop fooling around and behave myself. And that's-- all -- I Tremember with-an- yclarity until, 28 days later, I heard some- movies-and-I-felt-finei-just-a-- -- menin- - and make out large masses. Of course, 1 learned later that what I thought I was "seeing was greatly distorted. A spinal rta)Fshowed --inyd octor4hafeH;heaeute .phase of the disease was over. "We know that we've saved Pat's life," he said,, "bat I 271960 Doctors call-i- table" vas to give me more air and to make feeding easier. An incision was made in my throat, and I was fed through a tube inserted there. Gradually my sight was coming back anv,nf.the-biir;6nes.itheivl rQr :to spinalord. A vital "living as ah" independent adult Less than a year ago, I could do none . of these things. I couM not turn from -- lesions to adjacent regions of the brain geTencephiiitis. I mean, too, my struggle to relearn the 132 separate and distinct activities of daily'living which I had taken for grant ed, as any healthy girl of 18 would. I have not drawn the number 132 from a hat. By the calculations of specialists, that is the number of ordinary, and functions basic to - v ntWafflages-theH- ie reducedme-t- o. encephalitis,-whic- h s r : ; : r r f ; ' - I i FHOTOGRAFHS It flATOW |