Mother?s Day wishes are for restored health for children
by Peter Jakey– Managing Editor
Theresa Szczerowski of Presque Isle has a Mother?s Day wish. It is something quite simple but would mean the world to her. She wants to hear her son Matt, 20, say ?Mom? to her again. Matt is recovering from a traumatic brain injury suffered in an accident 10 months ago near his home, which left him nearly dead. When first responders finally got to Matt, he had no pulse and it took 15 minutes of CPR to get his heart beating again. Since then, it has been an arduous recovery for the young man and his supportive family.
Other than a few noises, Matt has said very little since the accident and has not had any ?purposeful movement.? The only word he has said has been ?Mom.? Just not to the person who wants to hear it the most. ?He said it when I wasn?t there,? said Theresa. ?Each time he has said it is when I haven?t been there. When I?m there, I keep asking him to say it, but he doesn?t ? that?s just like a teenager, he doesn?t want to listen.? Along with hearing Matt say ?Mom,? she wants to be able to talk to him again. ?It is very difficult to see your child in this condition,? said Theresa. ?You?re normal one day, and then it is all taken away, and I want any part of him back, that I can have.?
PAT WINDY, the mother of Julie Windy, is going through a similar situation in another part of the state. Julie is a 1998 graduate of Rogers City High School, with many concerned friends still here in town, and was a popular teacher at Swan Valley High School in Saginaw. She was the cross country and track coach, as well as National Honor Society advisor. A link entitled ?Miss Windy? located on the high school home page has offered updates on her condition since the accident June 6 when her vehicle rolled over. The complete details of the accident may never be known.
?An animal may have went out in front of her,? said Pat. ?She swerved, left the road, and hit a culvert. We?ll never know for sure.?
Julie was taken to Hurley Medical Center in Flint in a medically induced coma with head and neck injuries. Most of the damage was to the left side of her brain. ?She still doesn?t have much movement on her left side, it is mostly her right side that she is using,? said Pat. ?She is a left-hander so that is not the easiest life for her. It is slow progress, but they are continuing to adjust her medicines and try to
figure out what is going to work and help her the most.? She is currently at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ypsilanti, but doctors are preparing Julie for a transfer to Midland, which will put her closer to her parents. ?She?s awake, but she doesn?t have the ability to talk right now,? said Pat. ?We?re working on that. They just took the trach out a month-and-a-half ago. So, obviously it is a learning process, plus there is probably some damage for when she had the tube down her throat in Hurley.?
She?s fighting to talk, and in a moment that would make a mother?s heart melt, Julie whispered ?Hi Mom,? in Pat?s ear. ?I cried,? she said.
If Pat had one Mother?s Day wish it would be that nobody would have to go through something like this. She also wants to see the continuing recovery of her daughter. ?We?re at the halfway mark because they figured it would take a couple of years,? said Pat. ?She is getting there.? Julie is still trying to gain control of her actions and speak more, and is gaining strength. In between therapy sessions, Julie was in a wheelchair and pulled herself along a railing. Students and faculty at Swan Valley High are encouraged by the move because the facility has a transport van that could bring her to a track meet.
MATT?S ACCIDENT occurred on July 22, but his progress has been slower as he had a spinal injury, skull fracture, and with the lack of oxygen to the brain for a prolonged time, it is difficult to ascertain how much permanent damage he sustained. ?That is why things are so iffy as to how the end result is going to be, as far as the future,? said Theresa. ?Brain injuries take months, if not years to heal. ?So, we don?t know what the end result is going to b
Theresa and her family have already gone through a lot. Her daughter Jaclyn has battled Hodgkin?s lymphoma, a form of cancer, not long after the accident occurred. With chemotherapy, she is recovering nicely. She also lost her husband almost 10 years ago.
?My faith is the only thing holding me up,? said Theresa. ?I have had a lot of support from family and friends. That means a lot too.?