Miracle Stories
Shayveona, Age 3
Quinika “Sue” Canada has a hard time describing the emotion she feels when her 3-year-old daughter Shayveona grasps her finger. “It just makes me want to cry,” she says.
Shayveona experienced a severe traumatic brain injury in July 2008 when her head hit a couch during a pillow fight at her babysitter’s house. Sue was initially told her daughter would not likely “wake up, focus or be aware,” but she says Shayveona started to show signs of alertness soon after coming to the TCU at Children’s Hospital the following September.
Providing a stimulating environment and care focused on rehabilitation are part of TCU programming for children emerging from coma or brain injury. Shayveona’s TCU services include twice weekly physical, occupational and speech/language therapy. She also participates in recreation, music and art therapy and an on-site preschool special education program. Improving limb movement, head control and attention to tasks is a focus of her physical and occupational therapy; speech and respiratory therapists are working together to help her tolerate a Passy-Muir tracheostomy speaking valve.
Training from TCU staff in how to manage Shayveona’s tracheostomy and other medical equipment has been particularly helpful for Sue and her husband, who visit every day from their home in Richmond’s Southside. In November, they were able to take her home for weekend visits, much to the delight of her twin brother, Daveon. A successful modified barium swallow in the coming months could lead to more milestones for Shayveona, including regaining the ability to eat by mouth and having her gastrostomy tube removed.
Seeing continued improvement and bringing Shayveona home for good top Sue’s list of hopes, but for now she’s comforted knowing Shayveona is “happy where she is.” Sue says, “The TCU is just so wonderful—they’re everything. I can’t even explain.”
