Sadie Cheyenne was born on October 22, 1997 and she was in a hurry from the moment she took her first breath. Her development was normal until she was about 14 months old. She suffered from a grand mal seizure caused by a high fever. After her recovery her physically development continued at a normal pace. However, she did have learning disabilities including dyslexia and delayed speech. Sadie was never embarrassed by her disabilities nor did she let them stop her accomplish anything that she set her mind to. By the time she was 8 years old she was preparing to test for her brown belt in Tae Kwon Do.
What was extraordinary about Sadie was her zest for life, her huge heart, her sense of humor and her amazing will. She had the ability to make friends wherever she went, she took in stray animals and her dream was to become a Vet. Sadie even became a vegetarian at the age of 7 because she couldn't bring herself to eat animals.
In early February 2006 Sadie became ill with flu-like symptoms. After 5 days of being ill she starting feeling better and was ready to go back to school just in time for Valentine's Day. She then took a turn for the worse again and on February 17, 2006 we took her to the emergency room. She had become extremely weak and her fingernails began to turn purple. After spending 12 hours waiting in the ER at Saint Louise Hospital in Gilroy she was seen. Sadie was admitted to the hospital and the doctors began running numerous tests trying to diagnosis the illness. She was seen not only by a Pediatrician but also by several specialists. Their first solid recommendation was that she may have a slight tear in her appendix and that it was leaking toxins into her body. On Monday February 20, 2006 they preformed an appendectomy and also removed several lymph nodes for testing. It was clear to the surgeon immediately that her appendix was not the cause of her illness. Sadie's pediatrician felt that she needed to be transferred to a hospital with a dedicated Pediatric unit. On February 21, 2006 Sadie was transported to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, CA and admitted to the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit).
After being admitted, Sadie received the first of many Lumbar Punctures (Spinal Tap). Within 2 hours the doctors confirmed that she had Meningitis. Unfortunately it took another 7 days to determine that this was not a common form of Meningitis. She had contracted Coccidioidomycosiss, an airborne fungal spore commonly referred to as "Cocci" or Valley Fever. It is usually a respiratory disease but in Sadie's case, which is 1% of all cases, it entered into her spinal fluid and caused her to contract Meningitis. Within 2 days of her diagnosis she suffered three strokes due to extreme inflammation of the vascular system and meninges of the brain. The strokes caused brain stem damage and blocked the "information" from her brain to all parts of her body. Sadie became a quadriplegic and was left without speech or the ability to eat. She underwent surgery to relieve the pressure to her brain and had an external shunt for 8 days. She eventually had a VP shunt placed in her head and a permanent GI Feeding tube put into her stomach. She had daily lumbar punctures for over 3 months in order to administer antibiotics directly into her spinal fluid.
She was in PICU for 55 days and in Pediatrics for 125 days. Sadie was released from Valley Medical Center on August 21, 2006 after a total hospital stay of 184 days.
This is where our journey began....................
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