Scott Cressman
Independent staff
Lydia Herrle was sitting in church last Sunday when she leaned over to her mother. ?I?ve lived the hard life because of my accident,? she whispered.
?Yes, but you?re getting better,? Michelle Herrle whispered back. ?I know,? Lydia answered.
A simple exchange, but one that was barely imaginable in May, after Lydia was struck by a truck as she walked from her school bus outside the family?s Erbs Road home. The 13-year-old was in a coma after the accident, forced to rely on life support in a Toronto hospital room.
Now, Lydia?s time in hospitals is over. She has steadily recovered her ability to speak, move, and laugh, so on Oct. 9 the Herrles brought their daughter home for good. This week, she will begin home-based therapy and tutoring, and also continue reconnecting to the life she had before her accident.
Lydia beams and throws her hands in the air when asked how she feels to be home. ?Happy!? she said. ?I love home. Toronto is never home.?
The move wasn?t just a treasured moment for the Herrle family; it was an important step for Lydia?s progress to continue. As Lydia slowly emerged from her coma, she became more and more unhappy with being away from her parents, Michelle and James, and two younger brothers, Sam and Ben.
?It really hindered her progress because she was homesick. She was longing to see her brothers,? Michelle said.
Lydia is relearning how to climb stairs, how to brush her teeth, and how to form complete sentences. She needs help keeping her balance while walking. She speaks with a slurred voice, but her bright, friendly personality easily shines through.
Lydia answers questions with short answers, flitting from one subject to the next with constant smiles and laughter. French words will accidentally slip into her sentences, and she sings at any opportunity. ?Call Me Maybe,? the pop hit by Carly Rae Jepsen is her favourite, she said.
The accident left Lydia with diffuse brain damage. Often she knows how to do something, but her body no longer has the fine motor skills to perform the action, James said.
She also remembers her life from before last spring, which means her current struggles can be frustrating and lead to emotional outbursts. Lydia sees her own limitations and is struggling to process her new life, James said.
She sometimes has trouble sleeping, waking in the middle of the night with her mind racing.
The similarities and differences in their daughter before and after the accident are hard to explain, James and Michelle said.
?I think the beautiful thing is that she still has her sense of humour and bright spirit,? Michelle said. ?She?s pretty patient with us, and forgiving. She just looks at me sometimes and shakes her head.?
?She speaks like a normal teenager, with appropriate slang and even some attitude thrown in,? James said. ?Then there?s other times she uses words like a three-year-old.?
Now that she?s home, Lydia is especially eager to return and visit her peers at Baden Public School, where she would have been in Grade 8 this year.
?I could be best friends with school,? she explains her excitement. ?I don?t like school, I love school.?
She loves going to church at Waterloo Mennonite Brethren, and spending time with customers in Herrles Market. She gets tired easily, though, so her parents are easing her back into a social life.
Lydia is also happy to eat her mom?s homemade food instead of the hospital meals at Sick Kids or Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.
?I didn?t like it at all,? Lydia said. ?The food was disgusting,? and she missed her family, she added.
Lydia?s appetite is voracious, and she has a much stronger sweet tooth than before the accident, James said. That?s because her body requires massive number of calories to repair its brain. A doctor in Toronto told the Herrles that the energy needed in Lydia?s brain was equivalent to a marathon runner?s energy use.
Lydia?s progress has been faster than many of the doctors? predictions, James said, but there?s never a clear guideline for brain damage cases like these. Doctors are now advising the Herrles to expect a two-year recovery period. What Lydia will be like at the end of that period is anyone?s guess, but her family is certainly hoping for the best.
?We definitely feel very fortunate, very blessed, that we?ve had this recovery so far.? James said. ?And obviously we?re hoping for even more, for a full recovery.
?It?s been a journey of trust, of trusting that God will answer some of these prayers.?
The accident has put the Herrle family squarely in the public eye. There have been interview requests from newspapers and magazines, TV and radio stations.
Opening up their family?s private struggles to the outside world has sometimes been hard, James said. They have turned down media requests when they didn?t feel ready.
?Right from the start, right from five minutes after the accident, it?s been such a public affair,? James said. ?It?s hard to put the lid back on the box.?
?It?s been this extraordinary experience right from the start,? he added. ?The [community] has been an encouragement for us. We know people are thinking of us and praying for us.?
The massive show of support through a lime-green ribbon campaign across Wilmot and surrounding regions has been the most obvious sign of support. The Herrles are now planning an event for Nov. 1 that will see all those supporters bring their green ribbons back to the family?s home. Starting at 5 p.m., the ceremony will be a chance for the community to see and encourage Lydia, as well as celebrate her homecoming.
4th Of July 2012 Zach Parise Spain Vs Italy Euro 2012 tiger woods erin andrews erin andrews Pepco
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.