Miracle Children Beat the Odds

For nearly two decades, young lives have been saved with financial help from the Children's Miracle Network. More than $5 million has been raised since 1985 to support a variety of programs at Children's Hospital, including pediatric oncology and pediatric cardiology.

"We've had tremendous success with our annual fund-raising campaigns," says Children's Miracle Network coordinator Sonya Link. "As in previous years, we are planning a series of special events and promotions throughout June to celebrate the network's achievements." Area media will help spread the word through special inserts in the Columbia Tribune, Columbia Business Times and Mizzou Weekly.

To illustrate how Children's Miracle Network impacts the lives of families throughout mid-Missouri, here are the stories of two children and their parents who experienced their own miracles.

Teenager Travis Miller rests in bed while Dr. David Jimenez, center, and Travis' father, Boyd, celebrate the boy's recovery. Dr. Jimenez removed a tumor from Travis' spinal cord last year

Miracle at Easter

During Easter of 2001, the Miller family of Princeton, Mo., witnessed a miracle. Travis Miller, 16, was recovering from surgery in which a tumor had been removed from his spinal cord. Shortly before the surgery, Dr. David Jimenez and his team had given Travis and his parents, Judy and Boyd Miller, the unfortunate news that there was a 50 percent chance that Travis wouldn't walk again. The tumor was inside his spinal cord and had grown so large that it had stretched the cord very thin, enough to possibly cause paralysis.

"We just kept hoping for that 50 percent chance that he would walk," says Boyd Miller. "After the surgery he began moving his feet, and on Easter Sunday he got up. With help he eventually walked to the shower."

"You can't imagine how happy we were to see Travis on his feet again," adds Judy Miller. "It was a miracle."

Travis' trouble began in early April 2001 when he began experiencing back pains. His doctor's diagnosis was scoliosis, an abnormal curvature of the spine that often occurs during adolescence. But then Travis began losing feeling in the area around his stomach. An MRI scan revealed a tumor from the T-6 to the T-10 bones in his spine. "This was a significant tumor," says Cathy Cartwright, clinical nurse specialist and a member of Jimenez's team. "It's rare to find a tumor so large inside the spinal cord."

"Everything happened so quickly," says Judy Miller. "We received a call from the doctor's office on a Monday, and by Wednesday we were at Children's Hospital. He had surgery the next day."

Jimenez and his surgical team spent nine and a half hours in the operating room with Travis. His parents describe it as one of the longest days of their lives. From 8 in the morning to 5:30 that evening, they waited and feared the worse.

"A nurse kept giving us updates on the surgery," says Judy Miller. "All of the staff were great - very understanding."

Travis spent a week in the hospital recovering from the surgery - less time than Jimenez expected. Travis received constant attention from the Children's Hospital staff, but his attention was focused on going home and getting back in shape for the softball season in the fall. "I didn't like lying around," says Travis, "but Dr. Jimenez made me laugh, and the nurses treated me good."

During Travis' hospital stay, parents, brother and two sisters used the Ronald McDonald House near the hospital as a base camp. "My wife and I would take turns staying with Travis, and the other one would stay with the kids at the house," says Boyd Miller. "It really helped a lot because we were all so nervous and we live so far away."

With the initial help of a walker that "made me feel like an old person," Travis gradually has regained all of his strength. He was second baseman for his softball team last fall, and he recently completed his sophomore year of high school. "Travis has had an excellent recovery," says Cartwright. "His MRI after the surgery was clean - there were no signs of the tumor."

Travis recovered so quickly that he was able to play for his softball team last fall.

Baby blessed

For Carrie and Joe Steuber of Moberly, the birth of their first child was all that they had hoped for. Their new daughter, Madison, was happy and seemingly healthy.

But when the Steubers met with Madison's pediatrician for a routine two-week checkup, something was wrong. "She was turning blue, and we couldn't figure out why," says Carrie Steuber. "At first we thought it was a virus or bacterial infection. Then the doctors narrowed the problem to her heart."

Madison was referred to pediatric cardiologist Dr. Guy Carter, who consulted with Dr. Pierantonio Russo, who had joined the cardiac surgery staff at University Hospital last November.

"I suspected it was a very, very rare congenital heart defect," says Russo. "In a normal heart, blue blood and red, oxygenated blood are pumped separately through the body, and they do not mix. Madison's heart, however, was mixing the blue and red bloods, and a large amount of blue blood was traveling through her body, making her cyanotic. The only option was surgery to repair the defective atria."

The Steubers were fortunate. Russo had performed the surgery twice in Philadelphia, once in London and once at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "We would have traveled anywhere," says Joe Steuber. "We were lucky to have one of the top doctors for this so close to home."

The surgery, however, had never been performed on an infant. "She was only 5 weeks old at the time, so that did present a challenge," Russo says.

The repair to Madison's heart took only an hour, plus another hour to open and then close the chest. "We prefer fast-track pediatric cardiology surgery, in which we use less fluids in the heart and lung machine," says Russo. "This keeps the lungs clearer, and 90 percent of the children are extubated while they're still on the operating table, instead of in ICU. We have a great deal of experience with this type of surgery. It's one of the strengths of our program."

Madison was extubated while still on the operating table, and she continued to breathe spontaneously. Within seven hours she was feeding from a bottle.

"The first 48 hours after the surgery were critical," Carrie Steuber says. "We were so nervous, but the PICU nurses were great. We've developed a close relationship with a couple of them."

Madison was released from the hospital on April 20, only five days after her surgery. Her recovery continues to go well, except for a skin irritation shortly after she got home that briefly hindered the healing process. "Now we're over that hump as well," Joe Steuber says.

"Joe and I were very pleased with the care Madison received," Carrie Steuber says. "Everyone treated us with so much care and attention. But the amazing thing is that there were so many other children in the PICU. And all of them received the same amount of care. We all were blessed."

Respiratory therapist Daniel Horstmann cares for Madison Steuber. Dr. Pierantonio Russo repaired Madison's rare heart defect with a surgery that had never been performed on an infant.