Story submitted by Korrey Shields on December 28, 1999 at 09:31:16:
Korrey Shields is 21, from Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Family:Korrey, Bree (2 1/2 yrs) & Kolin (17 mo)
My name is Korrey. I have a child with Erbs he now
is 17 months old and has 55% usage of his arm which
is a great deal compared to what it was at birth.
Kolin {my son} was born 6 weeks early and weighed in at
9 1/2 lbs. He had gotten stuck at the shoulders
at birth which resulted in the doctor pulling him
out by the head snapping 5 out of the 7 nerves going from his neck to his left arm. Kolin had his first appointment with his neurologist when he was 2 weeks old. At first the doctor kept telling me that it would get better all by itself. My mother pushed, and insisted we get additional opinons. They sent him to OT. At about 2 months we went to go see a neurosurgeon who did not want to operate. Upon
telling the neurologist this, he sent us to another surgeon who without any hesitation wanted to perform the surgery.
On 2-1-99 Kolin went in for his first surgery to
reconnect his nerves. Kolin spent 6 weeks in half a
body cast. While in the cast I was able to see him
able to move his arm from the shoulder. Up until
this point he had absolutely no movement in his arm or
hand. His hand was stuck in the waiters position,
which is the hand flexed all the way back to touch
his wrist. Kolin to the day is still improving. He
started to crawl at the age of 11 months and walking
at 13 months. This has been a really hard time for
us; I'm a single parent and I have another child who is 2 1/2 yr. old with no problems at all, so to have a child with Erbs was very frustrating. Kolin will need additional surgery at the age of 4 when they will take muscle from his side to use on his bicep so he will be able to bend his arm. Kolin can now grab some things in his hand and hold it for a short amount of time. But he's getting there which is all that matters.
Kolin's surgery was done at Gillete Childrens Hospital in St. Paul, MN which specializes in Erbs.
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