Jul 16, 2008 11:16 am US/Eastern
Jessie To Head Home After Making Great Progress
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
There is an update on the progress of 6-year-old Jessie Hall. WJZ has been following the little girl who had half her brain removed in June in order to save her life.
Derek Valcourt checked in with Jessie and her family as they continue on the road to recovery.
Her hair is coming back and so is her spunk.
Little Jessie Hall now spends most of her day with therapists as she retrains her brain and her body.
"She's learning to use her arms and legs again, learning to talk and walk," said Dr. Suzanne Prestwich with Kennedy Krieger.
The bike ride down the hall is a long way from where Jessie was in June: in the middle of the most major brain surgery there is. Jessie had Rasmussen's encephalitis, a rare neurological disease that was destroying one side of her brain.
So world-renowned pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson removed the diseased right half of her brain. Her parents Cris and Kristi Hall have been there every step of the way.
Jessie must relearn even simple tasks. Doctors are saying her progress is remarkable.
"She's beginning to put a lot of weight on her legs, she can stand independently now. It won't be long, she'll be walking and running within six months to a year," said Cris Hall, Jessie's father.
Her hard work is paying off. She's now just days away from going home to Texas, something that excites the entire family.
"Heading home means we get to be back with our family again and she'll have three full-time physical therapists there, which are her three brothers. They'll keep her moving and make her work those legs and arms," said Cris Hall.
For Jessie the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.
Jessie's parents expect she'll spend a few weeks at another rehab facility when she returns home to Texas this weekend.
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