Sabine's New Ride (wheelchair van)
Donation protected
Sabine is a 9 year old Shaken Baby Syndrome Survivor. When she was only 10 months old, Sabine was violently shaken and abused by a babysitter resulting in massive brain damage and lifelong disabilities. Sabine will be 10 years old this year (Wow!) and is getting so big! And all of Sabine's necessary equipment is growing to keep up with her. The weight and size of a power wheelchair alone is too much for our current vehicle, then add in a bigger manual wheelchair and gait trainer as well.
As such, Sabine needs a safe, wheelchair accessible vehicle to access all of her life's activities, therapies, doctors appointments, and school.
All donations from this crowdfund will go toward the cost of a wheelchair van. Please donate generously to help keep this active, friendly, loving girl on the move!
Many hands make light work, so donate, share this page often, and encourage others to join you by telling Sabine's story!
Sabine is becoming quite an accomplished artist and loves painting so much! Her artwork is featured on her Facebook page linked below.
As an incentive and reward, the Top 3 people who donate the most will each receive a Very Special Original Painting by Sabine!
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! You are truly Sabine's Angels!
Sabine's Light 'An Unshakeable Foundation' Facebook Page
Sabine's Story
Sabine was born perfectly heathy. She grew quickly and met every infant milestone along with her peers.
On November 8, 2007, when she was 10.5 months old, she was violently shaken by a babysitter and suffered extensive brain damage. As a result, Sabine has “Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma” (SBS/AHT). Her case received extensive publicity in our local newspaper and the babysitter is currently incarcerated in the Utah State prison and will be released in October 2016.
Sabine’s brain damage was immediate and global. It took paramedics almost an hour to resuscitate Sabine and get her stable enough to transport her, via Life Flight, to the local children's hospital.
During transport her body was “posturing” which is seizure-like activity caused by severe brain damage and / or rapid brain death. A breathing tube was inserted into her trachea, but because of the extensive posturing and seizure activity, the breathing tube had to be repeatedly removed and re-inserted. She was intubated and re-intubated multiple times. The repeated re-intubations caused trachea damage.
Upon arrival at the hospital, Sabine was admitted to the ICU where she remained in a deep coma for 9 days.
While in the coma she had minimal brain function. The damage to her brain was extensive. Her doctors shared with me that Sabine may never “awaken” or, if she did regain consciousness, then she would have to have continuous “life sustaining” support.
That was their “Best Case Scenario,” life support, 24/7.
I will never forget the neurosurgeon sitting us down in order to go over the MRI results. He said: “The white portions of the brain scan show the areas with very severe damage.” As I looked at it, all I saw was white and replied: “But the whole thing is white” He said: “Yes. It is. I'm so sorry.”
We learned that Sabine suffered bilateral subdural hematoma, thousands of bilateral retinal hemorrhages, retinal scarring, optic atrophy, cortical visual impairment, global hypoxic and anoxic ischemic encephalopathy, dystonia, spasticity and strokes.
These big, scary medical terms and conditions were overwhelming. In essence, they meant that she has cortical blindness, severe muscle tone problems, seizures, trouble swallowing and breathing. She had eight surgeries to restore her airway and trachea function.
Because of the tight muscles caused by the global damage to her brain, a Baclofen Pump, the size of a hockey puck, has been surgically implanted in her abdomen with a catheter threaded into her spinal cord to deliver medication. Every three months, under general anesthesia, she receives Botox and Phenol injections into both her upper and lower leg muscles, as well as her left pectoral muscle, left upper and lower arms, and left hand and thumb.
She also has dystonia, the inability to coordinate muscle groups. Her muscles curl and flex the wrong way with spasticity causing uncontrolled spasms. At times she loses the ability to maintain her balance. She has left-side weakness on both upper and lower extremities with little to no functional use and limited to moderate functional use of her right-side extremities.
She has hip dysplasia, which required a double Hip Osteotomy, a reshaping of the bones. The damage to Sabine’s brain caused her muscles to be so tight that, despite the continuous use of the Baclofen Pump, the botox and phenol injections, and twice daily dystonia medication, her hips were still pulled out of their sockets.
The surgeons broke her hip bones, realigned them with plates and screws. Because of this Hip Osteotomy, they had to break both of her femurs and completely rebuild her left hip socket with bone fragments from her femur.
Sabine was in a body cast from ribs to ankles for eight weeks and in the hospital for an additional 10 days following a post op bladder infection caused by catheterization during surgery. Sabine's left leg required a surgical intervention known as a “Gastroc Lengthening” which addresses the severe contractions of her muscles which cause her toes to point and feet being unable to flex or stand flat on the ground.
With all of the above symptoms and behaviors, during travel, Sabine experiences severe anxiety. Breaking her skin, she bites her fingers and hands. At times she has chewed her fingernails almost completely off. She chews and sucks on her clothing and has eaten the stuffing out of her winter coats.
Sabine is very easily fatigued. Imagine that every muscle in your body is flexed and held tight all at the same time, all day, everyday. That is what Sabine’s body is like all the time. This causes her to burn calories very quickly and experience significant fatigue. Sabine experiences headaches, vision shutdown, and many other daily struggles requiring numerous major and minor surgeries and interventions. Sabine has been under general anesthesia 41 times in 8 years.
Sabine uses a manual wheelchair, a power wheelchair, a gait trainer, a standing frame, adaptive seating for classroom and toileting, adaptive utensils, many visual and auditory aids, and silicon “chewie” tubes to help prevent damage to her clothing and extremities during travel.
The violent shaking abuse Sabine suffered took only 8 seconds to change her life forever. And despite all her challenges, Sabine is a Miracle! She survived against the odds and has exceeded all expectations. Sabine is so loving and tremendously friendly and will talk your ear off at every opportunity and invite you over for a play date so she can show you all her favorite things.
Sabine started painting as occupational therapy when she was 3 years old and showed an immediate talent and so much joy! She has such an incredible eye for color and her paintings are a wonder to behold. She has also recently taken up learning to play the piano.
Sabine is an inspirational Shaken Baby Syndrome Survivor! And she is so very loved! Show and share your love for Sabine with a quick donation here and encourage others to learn about Sabine, donate, and share her story, too. It will not only help Sabine to get the wheelchair van she desperately needs, it will also help raise awareness about the dangers of shaking a baby! Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma is fatal for 1/3 of victims. The surviving 2/3, like Sabine, are left with lifelong struggles and disabilities. Shaken Baby Syndrome is 100% Preventable!
Thank you for your generous donations and helping spread awareness about the dangers of Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma! Together we can prevent this horrific abuse from hurting another child, and support the victims, like Sabine,
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
As such, Sabine needs a safe, wheelchair accessible vehicle to access all of her life's activities, therapies, doctors appointments, and school.
All donations from this crowdfund will go toward the cost of a wheelchair van. Please donate generously to help keep this active, friendly, loving girl on the move!
Many hands make light work, so donate, share this page often, and encourage others to join you by telling Sabine's story!
Sabine is becoming quite an accomplished artist and loves painting so much! Her artwork is featured on her Facebook page linked below.
As an incentive and reward, the Top 3 people who donate the most will each receive a Very Special Original Painting by Sabine!
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! You are truly Sabine's Angels!
Sabine's Light 'An Unshakeable Foundation' Facebook Page
Sabine's Story
Sabine was born perfectly heathy. She grew quickly and met every infant milestone along with her peers.
On November 8, 2007, when she was 10.5 months old, she was violently shaken by a babysitter and suffered extensive brain damage. As a result, Sabine has “Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma” (SBS/AHT). Her case received extensive publicity in our local newspaper and the babysitter is currently incarcerated in the Utah State prison and will be released in October 2016.
Sabine’s brain damage was immediate and global. It took paramedics almost an hour to resuscitate Sabine and get her stable enough to transport her, via Life Flight, to the local children's hospital.
During transport her body was “posturing” which is seizure-like activity caused by severe brain damage and / or rapid brain death. A breathing tube was inserted into her trachea, but because of the extensive posturing and seizure activity, the breathing tube had to be repeatedly removed and re-inserted. She was intubated and re-intubated multiple times. The repeated re-intubations caused trachea damage.
Upon arrival at the hospital, Sabine was admitted to the ICU where she remained in a deep coma for 9 days.
While in the coma she had minimal brain function. The damage to her brain was extensive. Her doctors shared with me that Sabine may never “awaken” or, if she did regain consciousness, then she would have to have continuous “life sustaining” support.
That was their “Best Case Scenario,” life support, 24/7.
I will never forget the neurosurgeon sitting us down in order to go over the MRI results. He said: “The white portions of the brain scan show the areas with very severe damage.” As I looked at it, all I saw was white and replied: “But the whole thing is white” He said: “Yes. It is. I'm so sorry.”
We learned that Sabine suffered bilateral subdural hematoma, thousands of bilateral retinal hemorrhages, retinal scarring, optic atrophy, cortical visual impairment, global hypoxic and anoxic ischemic encephalopathy, dystonia, spasticity and strokes.
These big, scary medical terms and conditions were overwhelming. In essence, they meant that she has cortical blindness, severe muscle tone problems, seizures, trouble swallowing and breathing. She had eight surgeries to restore her airway and trachea function.
Because of the tight muscles caused by the global damage to her brain, a Baclofen Pump, the size of a hockey puck, has been surgically implanted in her abdomen with a catheter threaded into her spinal cord to deliver medication. Every three months, under general anesthesia, she receives Botox and Phenol injections into both her upper and lower leg muscles, as well as her left pectoral muscle, left upper and lower arms, and left hand and thumb.
She also has dystonia, the inability to coordinate muscle groups. Her muscles curl and flex the wrong way with spasticity causing uncontrolled spasms. At times she loses the ability to maintain her balance. She has left-side weakness on both upper and lower extremities with little to no functional use and limited to moderate functional use of her right-side extremities.
She has hip dysplasia, which required a double Hip Osteotomy, a reshaping of the bones. The damage to Sabine’s brain caused her muscles to be so tight that, despite the continuous use of the Baclofen Pump, the botox and phenol injections, and twice daily dystonia medication, her hips were still pulled out of their sockets.
The surgeons broke her hip bones, realigned them with plates and screws. Because of this Hip Osteotomy, they had to break both of her femurs and completely rebuild her left hip socket with bone fragments from her femur.
Sabine was in a body cast from ribs to ankles for eight weeks and in the hospital for an additional 10 days following a post op bladder infection caused by catheterization during surgery. Sabine's left leg required a surgical intervention known as a “Gastroc Lengthening” which addresses the severe contractions of her muscles which cause her toes to point and feet being unable to flex or stand flat on the ground.
With all of the above symptoms and behaviors, during travel, Sabine experiences severe anxiety. Breaking her skin, she bites her fingers and hands. At times she has chewed her fingernails almost completely off. She chews and sucks on her clothing and has eaten the stuffing out of her winter coats.
Sabine is very easily fatigued. Imagine that every muscle in your body is flexed and held tight all at the same time, all day, everyday. That is what Sabine’s body is like all the time. This causes her to burn calories very quickly and experience significant fatigue. Sabine experiences headaches, vision shutdown, and many other daily struggles requiring numerous major and minor surgeries and interventions. Sabine has been under general anesthesia 41 times in 8 years.
Sabine uses a manual wheelchair, a power wheelchair, a gait trainer, a standing frame, adaptive seating for classroom and toileting, adaptive utensils, many visual and auditory aids, and silicon “chewie” tubes to help prevent damage to her clothing and extremities during travel.
The violent shaking abuse Sabine suffered took only 8 seconds to change her life forever. And despite all her challenges, Sabine is a Miracle! She survived against the odds and has exceeded all expectations. Sabine is so loving and tremendously friendly and will talk your ear off at every opportunity and invite you over for a play date so she can show you all her favorite things.
Sabine started painting as occupational therapy when she was 3 years old and showed an immediate talent and so much joy! She has such an incredible eye for color and her paintings are a wonder to behold. She has also recently taken up learning to play the piano.
Sabine is an inspirational Shaken Baby Syndrome Survivor! And she is so very loved! Show and share your love for Sabine with a quick donation here and encourage others to learn about Sabine, donate, and share her story, too. It will not only help Sabine to get the wheelchair van she desperately needs, it will also help raise awareness about the dangers of shaking a baby! Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma is fatal for 1/3 of victims. The surviving 2/3, like Sabine, are left with lifelong struggles and disabilities. Shaken Baby Syndrome is 100% Preventable!
Thank you for your generous donations and helping spread awareness about the dangers of Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma! Together we can prevent this horrific abuse from hurting another child, and support the victims, like Sabine,
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
Organizer and beneficiary
Kellie Vance
Organizer
Tooele, UT
Austin Stokes
Beneficiary
