Stroke baby makes miracle recovery
Published: October 29, 2005
Toddler Jaden Pegsden is the ultimate entertainer.
He clambers around with boundless energy, bright blue eyes lit up like fireflies and chubby little limbs bopping to the tinny strains of his Sesame St guitar, which is urging him to “jam with Elmo”.
A wide toothy grin - complete with a peek-a-boo tongue when thinking is required - rarely leaves the 11-month-old’s face.
So, when mum Lisa Lewis plucked him out of his car seat limp and lifeless five Sundays ago - she naturally thought he was playing the fool.
A stroke was the last thing she thought could have been wrong.
“I thought he was just trying to make me look like a bad mum,” she says, before a sad, reflective shadow crosses her face.
Jaden was taken to Waikato Hospital where tests revealed he was one of just 2.6 children in every million worldwide who have a stroke under the age of 14.
He had a 25mm blood clot on the left side of his brain, paralysing his body’s entire right side.
Doctors couldn’t make any promises.
“They said the paralysis could be gone in two months, it could be six, it could be two years or it could be never.”
Then a miracle happened. Less than a week later, Jaden started crawling again - and began an astounding recovery.
“I just started screaming (for joy), and calling out to the nurses. Everyone was just in shock after they had told me four days before that my son was paralysed.”
“He’s a miracle really. I’m not religious or anything, but that’s the only word I can think of.”
Jaden suffered his stroke on September 25.
His father Tim Pegsden, who does not live with them, rushed to their side.
Doctors told them Jaden had suffered an “idiopathic stroke” - an attack with no warning signs or obvious triggers.
Waikato Hospital paediatrician Dr Eleanor Carmichael said the hospital treated at least one child for a stroke each year, but idiopathic strokes were rare - particularly with babies.
Jaden had no previous medical ailments, nor was there a family history of blood clotting.
An MRI scan had confirmed the initial cat scan - and reality kicked in.
“I had been trying to stay strong for him because I know babies and children can pick stuff up through adults,” Ms Lewis said. “But when the doctor said that (explained the clot), like any parent would … I started crying. The only night I thought he wasn’t going to make it was the night he had fits and seizures.
“Seeing him go through that and his eyes rolling back … and he started doing it every 30 minutes. At that stage I couldn’t handle it and had to give him to the nurse.”
It was tough watching the other babies in the paediatric ward. “There were a lot coming in who were jumping up and down, and it was really horrible thinking ‘my son normally does that’. It was quite horrible … ”
The stroke rendered Jaden like a newborn all over again - always needing his body supported and head propped up. His trademark mile-wide smile had diminished to a partial lip curl at best.
“He was drooling … he just had no control whatsoever,” Ms Lewis said.
Then on October 1, six days after the stroke, mother was feeding son on a plastic sheet on the ground.
She turned away in search of wipes to fix his food-plastered face - and swung back to a babyless void. Jaden had crawled - using his supposedly paralysed body - a good 10m away.
The toddler was a little sluggish for the next few days - “probably from the medication” - but as good as gold from then on.
Dr Carmichael was thrilled with Jaden’s rapid recovery. “It’s impressive, very impressive. He seems basically normal now, he’s wonderful.”
The pair went for a check-up at Waikato Hospital last week and received the all-clear. Because of the right-hand side paralysis, it was 98 per cent certain Jaden would be left-handed. But nowadays his stubby little right digits hurl toys around with defiance.
Back at their Papamoa home this week, you would struggle to find signs of a stroke victim now - bar a telltale out-of-reach shelf laden with medication bottles.
The toddler has to take aspirin to keep his blood thin and prevent the onset of another stroke, which means he bleeds easily. A small cut above his right eyebrow is evidence of this.
Another side-effect of the stroke is much more pleasing. “He’s become a cuddler. He never used to like cuddles,” she exclaims, as the little man launches himself into her neck.
“Look at you now!” Ms Lewis calls out to her son, moments later. Jaden pulls out the trump card - managing three arm-assisted, wobbly steps into his mother’s arms.
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