Feb 9, 2009 4:56 pm US/Eastern
Jessie Hall's Recovery 'Remarkable' After Surgery
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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There's great news in the story of 6-year-old Jessie Hall. She's the girl who had a hemispherectomy, half of her brain removed, at Johns Hopkins Children's Center last summer.
There's great news in the story of 6-year-old Jessie Hall. She's the girl who had a hemispherectomy, half of her brain removed, at Johns Hopkins Children's Center last summer. It was the only way to save her life.
Now, several months later,
Denise Koch reports her doctors say Jessie's rehabilitation is remarkable.
Jessie Hall is up for fun. Now well enough to play hard, the 6-year-old from north Texas has to work even harder.
"She goes to school all day, then she has nine therapy session a week after school, plus two tutoring sessions, so she's pretty busy," said Kristi Hall, Jessie's mother.
But all the therapy must be working because Jessie is one vivacious 6-year-old.
"Jessie is doing incredibly well. She looks like a million dollars. No more seizures, she's alert, smart, making incredible progress and still has all of that sparkling personality," said Dr. Ben Carson.
When Dr. Carson met Jessie last year, she was suffering from 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 seizures and save her life. That was in June.
"You look at a youngster like Jessie, who clearly had her own inner drive, and you say this is a good prognostic factor," said Dr. Eileen Vining.
Dr. Vining is Jessie's primary physician in Baltimore.
"When you have all of those factors together, the basic disorder, coming through surgery easily, the innate Jessie and then parents and an entire community coming together, you expect good things," said Dr. Vining.
"I think we're always going to be just a little worried. Maybe we'll slowly ease into it. We're still cautious because the seizures could come back," said Cris Hall, Jessie's father.
Cris and Kristi Hall have taken this frightening journey alongside their child. She's come a long way in the eight months since surgery, but she still has a long way to go.
"She may master something now, but as she grows, her body changes. She'll continually have new challenges that she'll have to work on," said Kristi.
Jessie is now walking beautifully, but she barely uses her left arm and she may never regain fine motor movement in her left fingers.
"She doesn't quite understand the means to the end yet. She's not old enough, so trying to motivate her is quite a challenge," said Kristi.
In addition to caring for Jessie, the Halls have created a first of its kind Hemispherectomy Foundation to help families and patients facing this frightening prognosis.
"It really makes us feel good to be able to do something good and turn something so hard into something good," said Cris.
Kristi says she doubts this experience will ever be a distant memory, and while she believes the memory will always be with them, the nightmare is now over.
The Halls had a wonderful visit in Baltimore. They learned Jessie's recovery is ahead of schedule.
While at Hopkins, Dr. Carson agreed to be the honorary chair of the medical advisory board for their foundation.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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