Jul 11, 2009 6:35 pm US/Eastern
Jessie Returns To Baltimore 1 Year After Surgery
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
-
-
One year after undergoing major brain surgery, Jessie Hall is back in Baltimore.
CBS
One year after undergoing major brain surgery, Jessie Hall is back in Baltimore.
Jessica Kartalija has the latest on the little girl's condition and how her parents are reaching out to other families with similar situations.
Aside from a scar on her head and a brace on her left leg, seven-year-old Jessie Hall looks like your average soon-to-be second grader.
"Night and day. She left here doing fairly well, couldn't walk yet. Now she's hopping and skipping all over the place," said Kristi Hall, Jessie's mother.
When Dr. Ben Carson first met Jessie, she had Rasmussen's Encephalitis. Dr. Carson and his team at Johns Hopkins Children's Center removed the diseased right side of her brain to stop her from having seizures and save her life.
"Someday she'll understand. Right now, she knows she's a kid, had a special surgery and she is ready to go do the next thing," Hall said.
Eyewitness News closely followed Jessie's surgery, as well as her recovery.
During their two month stay here in Baltimore, the Halls formed the Hemispherectomy Foundation.
"All of these children here this weekend had what's called a hemispherectomy. That's the removal and disconnection of one half of their brain," said Jessie's father, Cris Hall.
At a conference in Anne Arundel County, families and children have a support network.
"Unfortunately because of the surgery, they are left with hemiparasis, where one side of their body is weak, so they all wear AFO's, a leg brace. They all have one arm that's very weak and has lack of mobility and that sort of thing," he said.
The good news: the kids don't suffer from seizures anymore. Now Jessie and her friends can focus on more important things, like playing.
While in town, Jessie had a few follow-up appointments with her doctors. They say they are very pleased with her progress.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
