Penguin Plunge in Nyack!

Each year, crazy but warm hearted people take a wintry plunge into the Hudson River to help local families who are facing the challenge of having a seriously ill child. Each year, the money raised goes to the designated families.  This year, we will be helping three families with three very special girls.
Heather Matthews is a 14 year old special needs Tappan Zee High School student who is diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury from Viral Encephalitis. Heather has a severe seizure disorder and left side paralysis. Born and raised in Tappan New York, Heather was struck with this rare virus at age two. Her life changed overnight as she regressed to a newborn and was paralyzed entirely on her left side. Her seizure disorder continues to be her daily challenge as she can experience up to 30 petit-mal seizures on any given day. Although her paralysis has progressed through extensive therapy, her left side weaknesses include her leg, arm, vision, and speech. Heather continues to have no use of her left hand. Heather’s family continues to look for ways to help Heather adapt and improve her left side as well as look for treatments that will help with the effects of the damage that was done to her brain.

Bridget Kunz of Congers  was brought to the emergency room at Westchester Medical Center last April.  Her parents had noticed that she had become pale and fatigued and a blood test showed very low red blood cell counts, white blood cell counts, and platelets.  She received her first blood transfusion that night.  At just 4 years old, Bridget was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (A.L.L.) on May 4, 2015.  She is being treated at the Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital at Westchester Medical Center.  By mid-May, Bridget was sent home from the hospital to continue her treatment as an outpatient.  She was only home for 5 days before suffering from a seizure.  She was taken back to the hospital by ambulance.  The oncology team determined that the seizure was caused by blood clots in her brain that had developed as a result of one of the chemotherapy medications she received.  In addition to all of the chemotherapy Bridget receives, she also has to have blood thinner injections twice a day due to the clots.  Bridget still has a very long road ahead of her which will be filled with many chemotherapy infusions, spinal taps, bone marrow aspirations, and MRIs.  She has about 2 years of treatment to go.  Despite all of this, Bridget is still the happy, fun, creative, and silly girl that she was before her diagnosis.  She is also a terrific big sister to her brother and sister, Connor and Shannon, who are 2 year old twins.

Fieldstone Middle School student Aiyanna Faria was diagnosed with Dyke-Davidoff-Masson syndrome in 2009. This rare condition is characterized by unilateral atrophy of cerebral hemispheres, enlargement of the ipsilateral sulci, ventricles, and cisternal spaces, decrease in the size of ipsilateral cranial fossae, overdevelopment of paranasal sinuses and mastoid air cells, and unilateral thickening of the skull. The effects include seizures, facial, asymmetry, contralateral hemiparesis and mental retardation. In simple terms, one side of her brain shrinks while the other side grows as she does.
The original doctor who diagnosed Nena, can no longer treat her due to insurance changes. The family was able to find a doctor to implant a vagal nerve stimulator to help lessen the seizures, but this has not been as successful as was hoped for. Nena is currently has 10-15 seizures a day. These seizures are starting to be grand mal types which cause dizziness, migraines and vomiting. Nena takes strong medicine ot help with the seizures. Several recent tests show no brain function on the left side of her brain. Now, with as many seizures as she's having and the amount of time that has passed, the right side is starting to be effected. She has been having a very hard time with memory these last few months.
Aiyanna- who is lovingly call "Nena" is fun and loving. She is a good girl and despite these challenges has maintained a positive attitude. She's a go getter and will do almost anything just to be a normal 13 year old.
Although her family is realistic to the fact that there is no cure, they just wantto give her as much time as they can. We want her to do as much as she can with as little effects from her treatment and disease as possible. She deserves to be able to live her life as normally as possible. Unfortunately for Nena, her normal is 10-15 siezures a day and has never had a seizure free day since her diagnosis.She has yet been able to have one normal day, unfortunately 10-15 seizures a day. Despite this, Nena’s heart is as big as the world. She won't let her mom cut or even trim her hair because