A miracle child
Published: January 31, 2006
After a tubing accident up north, doctors said Gianna Cotroneo had a 1 in 20 chance of ever walking again. She’s determined to prove them wrong.
Hugs and hearty hellos came from every direction when Gianna Cotroneo returned to Woodbury High School on Monday.
It was the 15-year-old sophomore’s first day back after five weeks in the hospital, where she began what is certain to be a long recovery from the sledding accident that shattered a vertebra and left her in a wheelchair.
Gianna, ever friendly, greeted teachers and classmates as they passed in hallways. She called out to hesitant friends to give her a hug or snap a picture with her; she thanked one classmate for her prayers.
During a late-morning meeting, school nurse Judy Belland listened as Gianna’s mother, Deb Cotroneo, described Gianna’s progress.
A month ago, the Cotroneos had been told Gianna might not walk again. Now she gets around her house with a walker — which she is eager to bring to school so she can use her wheelchair even less.
“Well, I must say — you are a miracle child,” Belland said.
The world changed for the Cotroneos on Dec. 18.
Up north celebrating the holidays with relatives, Gianna and her 21-year-old cousin, Danielle, decided to go sledding.
Their tube careened toward a tree on one run. Danielle fell off. Gianna — riding in the front — did not. The impact shattered one of her lower thoracic vertebrae.
She was airlifted to Regions Hospital in St. Paul and underwent eight hours of surgery. At first Gianna couldn’t move from the neck down — but she could feel. Hypersensitive, she found even the lightest touch to be excruciating.
Deb Cotroneo was told before the surgery that her daughter might be paralyzed permanently. Doctors weren’t much more optimistic afterward, saying the odds Gianna would walk again were barely 1 in 20.
The news was like a bad dream for the family. For Gianna, the experience certainly felt like one.
“She woke up after the surgery and said: ‘Oh, it’s real? I thought it was a dream,’ ” her mother said.
STEP BY STEP
During the month Gianna spent at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, a handwritten card taped to her wall spelled out her task clearly: “Get well NOW. Understand?”
Understood.
Gianna’s remarkable progress began with what her mother called a Christmas miracle. That was the day Gianna was able to significantly lift her legs while sitting, controlling movement in her thighs and hip flexors.
She improved again Jan. 5, when she stood upright with the help of parallel bars in physical therapy.
That wasn’t the end. The next day she walked using those same parallel bars, and nearly two weeks later, she began walking short distances with a walker.
At the end of a tiring Jan. 18 session, Gianna sat in front of her therapist, who said she would push down on Gianna’s knees as the girl lifted them to build muscle resistance.
“Don’t let me do it,” the therapist said.
Gianna barely mustered any strength in her right leg — the therapist easily tapped it down.
Gianna laughed, but then shook her head, determined. “Wait, let’s do it again,” she said, steeling herself. She held her leg up against the second attempt.
Gianna left the hospital Friday but will be continuing therapy about three times a week — a marked change from her twice-a-day, six-days-a-week sessions while admitted.
Her mother was worried about the change at first, thinking fewer sessions would slow Gianna’s progress. But she also realized it could make her daughter more independent, especially as she learns to move around at home.
Their two-story town home in Woodbury is not exactly wheelchair-friendly — but it’s come a long way, thanks to relatives who installed new flooring and converted the dining room into Gianna’s bedroom for as long as she needs a first-floor life.
Gianna is clear she will walk again. Doctors have said it could take about two years — maybe more, maybe less — for her to do that without assistance.
“I don’t want to be in a wheelchair,” Gianna said. “I’m a short person. This makes me even shorter. I want to stand somewhat tall and go to school dances, and run around with my friends. … It’s so hard to move around in a wheelchair.”
MOVING AHEAD
Gianna has found inspiration and support from those closest to her — and even from total strangers.
One cousin, Heather Kamin, was in a similar situation recently, having been hurt in a car crash and told her leg might need to be amputated. It wasn’t — and now Kamin is walking again. Gianna’s friends and family have done what they can, setting up a relief fund, staging benefit concerts, even creating T-shirts, buttons and bracelets — in pink, Gianna’s signature color — to sell.
Then there’s the guestbook entries on her CaringBridge.com journal, where support has come from as far away as Italy.
“It’s really nice and sweet and exciting that so many people care about me,” Gianna said.
She’s slowly working toward a regular routine again — and enjoying being a normal 15-year-old who likes to shop and keeps her locker adorned with photos from school dances and of pop singer Jesse McCartney. As her condition improved at the hospital, Gianna was able to get day passes to visit the Mall of America and attended a Woodbury hockey game against rival Park High School in Cottage Grove.
Cousin Danielle will move in to help out as Gianna improves. Therapy continues. And the goal remains the same — to walk on her own.
“To me, it’s a miracle,” said Dan Cotroneo, Gianna’s uncle. “We’ll take what God gives us, and so far he’s giving us more than what we’ve been promised by anybody.”
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