United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I want to share with all of you an update regarding our 11 yr. old son, Will. I posted in April that he had been injured on 4/10 while climbing on a rock wall at school. Through the advice of everyone on these boards, we decided to take him to a bpi specialist. We chose to go to TCH. Will could only move his pinkie and thumb and had a little shoulder movement while in water. EMG testing and evaluation by the TCH doctors suggested that Will's situation was unusual - he seemed to have nerve function but it was inconsistent and his muscle function was poor. The doctors told us the only way they could know for sure what was wrong was to do surgery. We decided to go for it - Will was the first to say he wanted to do surgery rather than wait. Surgery was done on June 4th. They found scar tissue around some of the nerves and muscle compression - both of which they repaired. None of the nerves were ruptured or avulsed. They said there was "a little stretch" but nothing to explain the severity of his paralysis. The end result was that when he came out of surgery he could move everything again - fingers, wrist, elbow, shoulder. He has work to do in PT to regain strength and ROM, but they predict full recovery. We obviously are thrilled with the results. I'm sharing our story to let you all know what has happened and to thank everyone for their support. These boards have been enormously helpful in helping us to learn about bpi's and treatment options. For us, surgery proved to be the right thing. Our local doctors thought we were nuts to go so far away for care and to even consider surgery, but I strongly feel that Will's situation would have stayed the same or gotten worse without surgery. I'm very glad we chose to do what we did. I realize that making these decisions is very hard for everyone, and each case is very different. Hearing about the options and the decisions of others certainly helped us when it was our turn to decide. Thanks again to everyone!

Thank you so much for sharing about Will's recovery. We are all rejoicing for him!

Nancy

I am so happy for Will and your family.
This is great news. Thanks for letting us all know how well Will made out.
Kath

This is a realy cool thing! It is a good thing you did for your son in seeking outside help. I rejoice with your family at the positive turn of events.

I am so happy for your son and for you as parents. Your news is WONDERFUL and I'm so glad that Will's surgery was a success! Good luck with his rehabilitation.

Missy Kosel
mom of Mitchell, 7yrs (robpi)

Amazing news!!! It is so nice to hear success stories. Wish only the best for your family. You are to be commended for doing your homework and seeking proper medical attention for Will. I guess you can rest a little easier now ) Will is lucky to have both of you.

As long as Will has movement, the strength will come with therapy, along with the therapy of playing and getting back on with life. Thanks for sharing this. I'm sure it will give hope to others.

George

Great news!!!! I am so happy for you guys!!!!
T.

Could you please advise me as to what and where TCH is. My 18 year old daughter was hit head on in December of 2001. Among broken neck (C-2), she had 4 fractures in back, tailbone, ribs and massive internal injuries. Miraculously, she has recovered from many of the injuries. However, she has a stretched nerve from C-8 and Horners syndrome. She was semi-professional pianist and cellist and enrolled in a music program in an private college in Michigan. Needless to say, she cannot write or do much with her right hand, or play either instrument. This is obviously devasting. I was very interested in your story about your son's surgery. Shannon can move her fingers a bit but has little strength. The MRI shows that the nerve has healed about to her elbow. But the last test showed little improvement. Her hand muscles are atrophying and the specialist said that PT will not keep that from happening. Again, could you let me know by what you mean about TCH, what hospitals, where at, the doctors name, etc. I will travel anywhere to help her. Good luck with you son Will, God Bless you all.

What great news!
Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
It took great courage to go for this surgery and by trusting your gut you had a great outcome....

Kath

Karen, thought you might be very interested in this stretch injury recovery.