‘Miracle Kids’ saluted at hospital fundraiser
Published: June 2, 2006
Jeremy Peterson was awakened in the early morning hours of Dec. 10 by a caller who said Peterson’s 12-year-old son, Zachary, was OK — but that the uncle’s house where Zachary was staying had exploded.
Driving up to the house in Horseheads, Chemung County, all Peterson could see was debris. No house remained.
His stomach dropped. “I thought for sure no one would make it through that,” said Peterson, of Elmira Heights, Chemung County.
Zach did survive the blast, but only after battling several life-threatening injuries.
Today, the only evidence of his ordeal is a small scar on his forehead where he was burned.
Zach is among the five children being honored as Miracle Kids, part of the Golisano Children’s Hospital’s annual Miracle Weekend fundraiser. The event, which runs today and Saturday, includes a 2-mile walk and a telethon, during which the children and their families will share their stories of courage and perseverance.
“The fact that (Zach) is walking around and you can’t tell he’s had so many injuries … he’s kind of a miracle I guess,” said Dr. Walter Pegoli Jr., surgeon-in-chief at Golisano Children’s Hospital at Strong, where Zach was treated.
Back on that frightening day, Zach was airlifted from Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira to Golisano Children’s Hospital.
At first, Strong doctors were most concerned about a brain injury Zach suffered. But a computerized axial tomography (CAT) scan of Zach’s heart revealed something else — a partial tear in the aorta, which carries blood away from his heart to the rest of his body. Most patients with that condition die within 48 hours, Pegoli said. Surgeons pushed a stent into the aorta to block the tear.
A second surgery repaired a puncture in Zach’s colon and allowed doctors to check his liver and spleen, which had been lacerated. He also suffered a broken collarbone, pelvis and rib, and burns to his chest and abdomen. He was sedated much of the time.
“I remember two or three days in the hospital, but that was in the third week,” Zach said.
Zach was at Golisano’s hospital from Dec. 10 to Dec. 27. Peterson and Zach’s mom, Stephanie Dunivan, were at his side 24 hours a day for the first week or so.
After he was stabilized, one parent would sleep in Zach’s room, another in the Ronald McDonald House upstairs.
Zach’s sister, Ashley, 10, stayed with relatives near Elmira and came to the hospital once her brother was doing better.
Peterson’s uncle, his aunt, and their two sons were also injured and are recovering.
An investigation continues into the cause of the explosion.
After Zach was discharged, he stayed home another month to recuperate. He was eager to return to seventh-grade at Horseheads Middle School, to see his friends and to play on the school’s soccer team.
He is not out of the woods yet. He will need to be monitored to see if he grows out of the stent in his aorta. And Zach’s family keeps a journal to monitor his behavior because of his brain injury. But Dunivan joked that it’s hard to tell the difference between brain trauma behavior and pre-teen behavior.
“I look at him and I’m thankful that he’s here,” said Dunivan of Horseheads. “He’s the same boy as before.”
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