(Written November 2000)
When Jessica was 2 weeks old she was diagnosed with multiple heart
defects. Some of these are: pulmonary artesia, VSD, pulmonary stenosis and pulmonary branch stenosis. She was in congestive heart failure and was hospitalized. Jessica spent much of her life in and out of the hospital. Jessica was struggling to gain weight and every little cold or illness would send her into the hospital. She was very "blue" and would cough and choke a lot. Jessica was diagnosed with GE Reflux and put on
medication for that. Finally the pediatric cardiologists felt that she needed surgery when she was 5 months old, eventhough she only weighted 10lbs. Jessica suffered a stroke with her first heart surgery and her right side was weak. The stroke was in the speech area of the brain and by 18 months of age, it was obvious that she was having extreme difficulty with speech and was trying desperately to communicate. Our home-bound teacher recomended sign language. 6 months later Jessica could sign over 80 words! Slowly the speech came....being facilitated by the sign language. At age 3 when Jessica's shunt was to be replaced...the shunt was accidently cut and she hemorraged out and went 8 min. with out receiving oxygen to her brain and suffered a 2nd, massive stroke and bled for days. She also caught an infection in her blood and 4 days after surgery we
were called to the hospital early in the morning to spend her last hours with her. She was bleeding, having seizures and with the infection surly would die. God blessed us immensely and she stopped bleeding on her own after losing 1/3 of her blood volume in only 4 hours. She was in a medically induced coma for a couple of days in order to completely stop the bleeding. 10 days after surgery she finally came off the ventilator.
To our dismay she was blind and her left side was paralized. We thought to ourselves, what have we done! After several days of waiting, tests, and many prayers, Jessica received her eyesight enough to be able to see her mommy and daddy. She was finally calm and could take comfort in them. She finally came home from the hospital a couple of weeks later a very sick little girl who had to learn to sit up, stand, walk and talk all over again. But this awesome, strong-willed child showed everyone what faith and hard work can do. She did learn to do all those things again. I always said that her motto is: "I'm not going to let a little
thing like heart surgery and a stroke get me down!"
Jessica after 3rd heart surgery, 1993. ~~ Dr. Donnerstein & Dr. Goldberg with Jessica. Jessica was 5 years old when she needed her 3rd heart surgery. Jessica recovered much better this time and 7 months later had surgery #4. The surgeon came out of surgery very discouraged and told us that "there was nothing more that they could do". Jessica's pulmonary arteries had not been growing. Within a few months of that surgery Jessica was becoming incredibly "blue" and was needing oxygen more and more. Finally a cathetorization showed that the conduit which had been placed between her right ventricle and pulmonary artery was allowing a lot of blood to flow away from her lungs and into the heart. Surgery was needed again to close off the conduit to give Jessica more time and improve her quality of life. Jessica did much better this surgery, largely because the incision was only a few inches long. Jessica came home 5 days after surgery. It has been 5 years since the last surgery and Jessica has enjoyed this time with her family. Jessica uses a motorized wheelchair in order to
conserve energy and is on continuous oxygen now. Jessica has surprised many people by being much more energetic than expected. Jessica has had to decrease the hours she spends at school so she won't faigue too much. CHRISTMAS SOCKS
We are wearing or carrying christmas socks this year with the faith and prayer that she can be healthy and strong to enjoy this christmas. This tradition was started with a little girl, Becca, who was critically ill following a heart surgery. A loving nurse gave Becca a pair of christmas socks with the faith that she would survive to see many more christmases. Becca did recover. Another year, a girl, Jessica Joy was having serious complications following a heart surgery and Becca's mother
sent Jessica Joy's mother some christmas socks as a token of her prayers and faith that she would recover. Jessica Joy also made a miraculous recovery. This story was told to an online support group called pdheart. Many people around the world have started wearing christmas socks in support of this new tradition for our Jessica this year. We have been so amazed by the love and support we have received from many people all over the world. We invite you to either wear or carry chirstmas socks right along with us. Jessica's mother's family will all be together for this
wonderful holiday and we pray that she can enjoy this christmas since she is terminally ill and her health is deteriorating quickly. Jessica has taught many people many things. As her mother, I have learned the true meaning of unconditional love. Jessica taught me to never give up and that God is truly in charge. Have faith in HIM and you can see miracles. I want to dedicate the song "BECAUSE YOU LOVED ME" sung by Celine Dion. Jessica may have needed my strength when she was weak, my voice when she couldn't speek, me to be her eyes when she couldn't see, but I'm everything I am because she loved me. Nancy Jensen Jessica celebrated her 13th birthday on June 3rd, 2001, with all kinds of friends and family. HAPPY TEEN YEARS SWEET GIRL!
Copyright (c) 2000- Jessica
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