Tiny Shooting Victim’s Recovery A Miracle
Published: December 8, 2005
When she was 2 years old, Yaya Kirkland took a bullet to the head as she was sitting in a car with her mother in October 2004. Now 4 years old, Yaya is making a “miraculous” recovery, doctors say.
After the shooting, Yaya was in a coma for months. She had a series of setbacks, including seizures and infections. She was also non-responsive for nine months.
“Initially the progress was very poor. … The bullet was in an area where it did a lot of damage to her areas that affect her movement, her language, feeding abilities, walking, sitting up,” said Dr. Cathy Domingo, of Weisman Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital.
Domingo said that the first nine months after she was shot, Yaya lived at the Weisman Children’s Rehabilitation hospital and she did almost nothing.
“She was really was not communicating or not able to follow any commands,” said Marquel Hanzok, a therapist.
After a series of setbacks, seizures and infections, physical therapists worked with little response from the tiny shooting victim until late this summer.
“We noticed that she started playing with her feet, taking her socks off, putting her feet in her mouth,” said Jackie Blady, a therapist.
The therapists said that since that apparent breakthrough, Yaya has been able to follow commands, play with toys the way other children play with toys and she has starting to do some walking.
Yaya even attempts to talk. Although the therapists don’t always understand what she is saying, they often know what she wants by the girl’s gestures.
“I wish there was some medical explanation for her recovery, but really it’s just a miracle, her recovering and all the prayers that have been out there for her,” Domingo said. [Love, Medicine and Miracles : Lessons Learned about Self-Healing from a Surgeon’s Experience with Exceptional Patients]
“It’s just great to think what’s there in the future — what else she can do and what else she is gong to do,” Blady said.
“It’s been a nice blessing for the family — for mom and her grandma, who have been hoping for miracles and they got one this Christmas,” Domingo said.
Domingo said that only time will tell how far Yaya will progress in her recovery.
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