Posted on 05/11/2005 6:39:07 PM PDT by BykrBayb
‘It’s amazing, isn’t it?’
Tracy Gaskill shows major signs of recovery after critical accident in 2002
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By FOSS FARRAR, Arkansas City Traveler For nearly three years, Don and Stella Gaskill had hoped their severely injured granddaughter would talk again. Just recently, their prayers were answered.
On Sept. 3, 2002, Tracy Gaskill suffered critical internal and head injuries when her pickup overturned on its top. Doctors told her relatives that night that she probably would die by noon the next day, Don Gaskill said this morning.
“That accident scared us to death,” said Gaskill, who lives in rural Winfield. Tracy Gaskill also is from Winfield.
But through personalized care received at Medicalodge North in Arkansas City and the daily visits and prayers of the Gaskill family — as well as many others in the Cowley County community — Tracy survived and gradually got better, medical personnel say.
Then, about three weeks ago, she spoke for the first time since the accident, Don Gaskill said. About the same time, she began to swallow on her own.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Dr. David Schmeidler said today. “I have never seen this happen in my career. I’ve read about it happening, the severely brain damaged recovering suddenly, but never seen it until now,” said Schmeidler, the medical director at the Medicalodge. He said he visited Tracy a few weeks ago and she greeted him, “Hi, Dr. Schmeidler.”
“She is actually able to speak and to speak coherently,” he said. “In light of all this stuff on Terri Schiavo — and I believe what was done in that case was wrong — it makes you pause and think. For three years or so, (Tracy) was fed through a tube, then she swallowed a little bit and now she speaks.”
Schiavo was the severely brain damaged woman who died March 31 after spending 15 years connected to a feeding tube. It finally was disconnected, after a bitter right-to-die dispute between her husband and her parents. The case went all the way to the White House and Congress.
But everyone involved in Tracy Gaskill’s care has been pulling for her to get better ever since her accident.
“It’s really quite amazing (that Tracy can speak),” said Lynda Marshall, a registered nurse who works at Medicalodge North. “After they’ve been without speech and the ability to eat that long, it’s very rare they’re able to come back.”
Marshall said Tracy will get speech therapy, continue working on improving cognitive functions and eat on her own.
“We’ve been assisting her with a feeding tube until yesterday,” she said.
Don Gaskill said he feels that without the personalized care his granddaughter has received at Medicalodge, she wouldn’t have made such an amazing recovery.
“In the last year and a half, she’s indicated that she knows us; she has been watching TV and smiling,” he said. “More recently, she started nodding her head when we asked her questions. Then a few months ago, she’d laugh out loud.”
In the last few months, nurses at the Medicalodge worked with her to get her to hum, he added. Finally, she started to speak clearly.
Asked by a reporter today how old she was, Tracy answered, “Twenty-nine. “You’re 30,” Don Gaskill corrected her. “Remember, you had another birthday.”
Tracy Gaskill was injured in 2002 when she lost control of her pickup truck as she was driving south on U.S. 77 just south of Strother Field, near the site of Cowley Cinema 8, according to the Cowley County Sheriff’s Department. The vehicle rolled over.
“We don’t know what caused it,” Don Gaskill said. “We weren’t at home at the time. One of (her) brothers who had heard from the sheriff’s office called us.”
Tracy was taken by ambulance to Strother Field, where a medical evacuation helicopter airlifted her to Wesley Medical Center. Tracy is a sister of Tyler Gaskill, a photographer and office staffer at the Winfield Courier. She has another brother, Shawn, a junior at Winfield High School.
She was in surgical intensive care for about a month at the Wichita hospital, Don Gaskill said, before she was moved into the Medicalodge in Arkansas City.
GASKILL -- Tracy Gaskill, shown in a bed at Medicalodge North in Arkansas City, has amazed family members and medical professionals alike. Gaskill, who was critically injured in an automobile accident in 2002, began speaking earlier this month for the first time since the accident. (Donita Clausen/Traveler)
This is the kind of love and care all patients should get.
Too bad this wasn't the case for Terri. She would probably have recovered and then she could have told us the truth.
Yeah. What else can you say?
Moral Absolutes Ping.
Thought you all would like to see this good news.
She was so close. She was vocalizing, and saying some words, though not very clearly.
I am so happy for Tracy.........and so heartsick for our Terri.
A lot! I can rant for hours, but this says it all. It's so good to see someone getting the proper care.
Quick, someone stop feeding here and deprive her of oxygen. She will enjoy a blissful and peaceful passing.
It's what is best for her, don't cha know.
That is the key, she can now speak. That's what HINO was deathly afraid of happening.
As one poster said the other day, the souls of people in physical states like Tracy was in, are gone. I guess somehow Tracy suddenly got her soul back, LOL! /sarcasm
This is indeed excellent news! Prayers for Tracy's continued recovery.
Not only was he afraid of her speech improving, he was afraid that knowledge of the speech she had would reach the public.
Makes my heart break even more for Terri.
I've read so many stories about the recent victims of euthanasia, this one cheers me up. Almost every day there's a story in the news about someone becoming brain damaged, and quickly removed from "life support" to avoid the long road to partial recovery.
Terri's autopsy should prove to be very imterestimgI wonder is Felos will sue to have it sealed if it remotely shows in "client" in a bad light
Right, and just imagine what a loving family and friends and trained medical staff can do.
It's too bad the enemies of Terri couldn't just go away and let the good help her.
No, they had to murder her.
If there was any chance of that, I'm sure he would. Of course, when the medical examiner refused to allow the common courtesy of an independent observer, that pretty much erased any doubt about what the results will be. It's not only common practice to allow an independent observer. It's unheard of to refuse it.
What is "HINO"
And they're not satisfied yet. They still show up on threads to mock her, and laugh about her parents not knowing where her ashes are.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.