A note from Sonya McDougall about her son Conner McDougall:
On May 19, 2006 my life changed forever. My husband Kris had a motor vehicle accident that killed him and my 6 year old son instantly. My 2 year old Conner (who was 1 at the time) was revived at the scene of the accident and then airlifted to Children’s Hospital in Dallas, Texas. He remained in critical condition for the first couple of weeks.
Two weeks after the accident the doctors had a family meeting with me and told me I needed to remove Conner from the ventilator and let him go. They told me he would be a quadriplegic and have no brain activity. He would basically just be a vegetable for the rest of his life. I told them there was no way I was going to do such a thing and I felt that two weeks was not enough time to know the outcome of Conner. I knew that God saved Conner from the wreck for a reason and I didn’t believe it was to be the way they were telling me.
Every single day after I made my decision to go on with Conner, the doctors made it a point to come in Conner’s room and tell me I made the wrong decision and I was being selfish. I am so thankful I put my faith in God and chose to go on with Conner, because everyday he proves that the doctors were wrong. It has been close to a year now and we know that Conner isn’t paralyzed. He can move every part of his body. We have him rolling from his side to his back, we put him in a harness and walk him on the treadmill. He can move his legs to walk, but he cannot support his weight. He talks baby talk over his ventilator (which he should not be able to do) and he is also eating pureed food by mouth. He makes leaps and bounds everyday.
We lost my husbands insurance and benefits. We didn’t qualify for Medicaid, Medicare, or SSI disability. So Conner only has a little state insurance policy called Tefra that doesn’t pay for any of these rehab facilities. It is crucial that Conner gets into brain injury and spinal cord injury rehab. We tried to get him into the Shriners Hospital in Philadelphia, but they turned us down for now. They feel like Conner really needs to have cognitive therapy, so we have found another rehab facility and it is the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Maryland.
We need around 500,000 dollars and that doesn’t include the equipment that Conner needs for home. We have to raise money to get Conner there. So we need your help in getting us there. I know God has a special plan for Conner. I want to thank everyone for helping us get Conner the help he needs. You will be blessed by helping us. Conner also has a website set up you can go to it is www.caringbridge.org/visit/connermcdougall
On May 19, 2006 my life changed forever. My husband Kris had a motor vehicle accident that killed him and my 6 year old son instantly. My 2 year old Conner (who was 1 at the time) was revived at the scene of the accident and then airlifted to Children’s Hospital in Dallas, Texas. He remained in critical condition for the first couple of weeks.
Two weeks after the accident the doctors had a family meeting with me and told me I needed to remove Conner from the ventilator and let him go. They told me he would be a quadriplegic and have no brain activity. He would basically just be a vegetable for the rest of his life. I told them there was no way I was going to do such a thing and I felt that two weeks was not enough time to know the outcome of Conner. I knew that God saved Conner from the wreck for a reason and I didn’t believe it was to be the way they were telling me.
Every single day after I made my decision to go on with Conner, the doctors made it a point to come in Conner’s room and tell me I made the wrong decision and I was being selfish. I am so thankful I put my faith in God and chose to go on with Conner, because everyday he proves that the doctors were wrong. It has been close to a year now and we know that Conner isn’t paralyzed. He can move every part of his body. We have him rolling from his side to his back, we put him in a harness and walk him on the treadmill. He can move his legs to walk, but he cannot support his weight. He talks baby talk over his ventilator (which he should not be able to do) and he is also eating pureed food by mouth. He makes leaps and bounds everyday.
We lost my husbands insurance and benefits. We didn’t qualify for Medicaid, Medicare, or SSI disability. So Conner only has a little state insurance policy called Tefra that doesn’t pay for any of these rehab facilities. It is crucial that Conner gets into brain injury and spinal cord injury rehab. We tried to get him into the Shriners Hospital in Philadelphia, but they turned us down for now. They feel like Conner really needs to have cognitive therapy, so we have found another rehab facility and it is the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Maryland.
We need around 500,000 dollars and that doesn’t include the equipment that Conner needs for home. We have to raise money to get Conner there. So we need your help in getting us there. I know God has a special plan for Conner. I want to thank everyone for helping us get Conner the help he needs. You will be blessed by helping us. Conner also has a website set up you can go to it is www.caringbridge.org/visit/connermcdougall