Laura Kopacz almost died while playing in the yard. She fell on a pitchfork and stuck her head on it. The iron dug into the brain. Today, after months of lying in a coma, Laura is in a wheelchair, talking and having fun. Doctors today believe that she will be able to walk, that she will be able to lead a normal life.
Laura, 7 years old today, miraculously survived the accident. The severe head trauma caused intracranial bleeding and massive brain swelling. An immediate life-saving operation was needed. Due to the large swelling of the brain, the doctors from the Provincial Specialist Hospital in Legnica had to immediately make a large opening in the skull, up to several centimeters. Later, the girl was taken to the University Teaching Hospital in Wrocław. She was in the children’s ward of the Clinic of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care. She was in a coma, the prognosis was uncertain. – Laura came to us in a terribly difficult condition, we didn’t really know if she would survive the next few days. But it turned out that she fought bravely for her life, says Dr. Marzena Zielińska, head of the Clinical Department of Anesthesiology and Children’s Intensive Care at the Teaching Hospital in Wrocław.
Doctors had to ensure that no serious infectious complications occurred after the injury. “We fought for Laura to breathe on her own.” She was connected to a respirator for a long time. We were concerned about her neurological condition. She did not communicate with the environment, did not move her arms or legs. We saw that she survived, but a long road was ahead of her, with an uncertain end result – says Dr. Zielińska.
It was just the beginning
For several weeks, the girl was connected to a ventilator, a tracheotomy (incision of the trachea) was performed and this way the breathing tubes were introduced. There were complications – hemorrhagic hydrocephalus developed in the places where there was bleeding in the brain. The girl had to undergo two more operations. Doctors from the Department of Neurosurgery of the USK applied, inter alia, a valve that drains fluid from the brain into the peritoneal cavity.
A month after the accident, it was still unclear if Laura would be able to walk, talk, learn, and be intellectually fit. The girl only looked after the toy, she smiled slightly at the sight of her mother. She was fed directly into the stomach. – However, the baby’s brain is much more plastic and has greater potential for neuroregeneration. The functions of damaged structures are more easily taken over by other regions. We believed that this would also be the case with Laura, says Dr. Zielińska.
Modern technology came to our aid
The challenge for the doctors was the wound after the injury. Laura had a huge hole in her skull. – To save her life, it was necessary to remove large areas of the skull to equalize the intracranial pressure. Such a huge defect in the skull bone did not allow the child to function independently, says Dr. Paweł Tabakow, head of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University Teaching Hospital in Wrocław.
The neurosurgeons from USK decided to implant Laura, a rarely used hydroxyapatite implant, a material that replaces bones and “grows” with the child. Thanks to this, it does not have to be replaced every few years.
– Modern technology came to our aid. 3D modeling systems allowed us to predict with great accuracy what an implant would be, how to adjust it to this defect, so that it would fit perfectly. If a child uses an implant that does not modify, the head will be distorted. This implant must grow with the child – explains Dr. Paweł Tabakow.
Such implants are made in Italy, individually for each patient, based on tomographic examinations. However, it was necessary to collect 40 thousand. zloty. The Lower Silesian Foundation for the Development of Healthcare came with help, which created a special sub-account for Laura. – We managed to collect the necessary amount immediately, and the collected funds will still be enough for the further rehabilitation of the girl – says Monika Kowalska, the hospital’s spokesman.
Everything will be fine
Laura was operated by dr hab. Paweł Tabakow and Dr. Krzysztof Chmielak. After the operation, the girl went to the Budzik Clinic for neurorehabilitation, where she spent over a year. In September she returned home. He has good hands, he talks, he plays, there has also been a huge improvement in intellectual efficiency. He is not walking yet and is in a wheelchair.
– The pitchfork went through the right and left frontal lobes, damaged both hemispheres of the girl’s brain, so she had problems with speech, she has a weaker right side, because the left hemisphere was more damaged. However, I believe it will level out. There is also a great chance that Laura will walk. In adults, it is almost impossible to achieve such a significant improvement from such a bad neurological condition, says Dr. Krzysztof Chmielak from the Department of Neurochrurgy, who operated on the girl.
– Laura surprised us very positively. Children have extraordinary power, such a strong will to live, incomparable to adults. In addition, they are greatly supported by nature, the child’s rehabilitation abilities are much greater than that of adult patients. And Laura took full advantage of it – adds Dr. Marzena Zielińska.
– The girl is already on her feet. This, of course, is not happening in terms of a miracle overnight, but it is improving. Until recently, she did not move her hands, today she uses them to drive a wheelchair, and she efficiently manages the smartphone screen – adds Dr. Zielińska.
Monika Kopacz, the girl’s mother is full of good thoughts: This last year was very hard for us. But I believed Laura would make it. Today she is the same cheerful girl that she was before the accident. And he will also walk, I’m sure of it.
There is one more surgery waiting for Laura – plastic surgery to hide the scars.
dr Krzysztof Chmielak and dr hab. Paweł Tabakow