After being hospitalized for 36 days, 3 year old Brenae Timmons is finally back home with her family. Baby Brenae's story is horrifying. You may remember in late January when a gate fell on top of her - fracturing her skull. She could have died under the weight of that gate but her dad rushed over and rescued her. Since then the only thing that held the family together during sleepless nights at the hospital was their faith and little Brenae's remarkable resilience. Yesterday her aunt called us over for us to see the remarkable improvement in the toddler's health. Here is her heartwarming story.
Courtney Weatherburne reporting
3 year old Brenae Timmons enjoys practicing her alphabet with her aunt. She caught on very quickly and now she has mastered it.
Brenae is like any other child her age: playful and happy. She is her family's joy in every way
But all of that joy and love was almost ripped from them a couple months ago.
On Friday January 29th, 2016, this gate fell on top of little Brenae and crushed her skull. It happened right inside the compound of the Lake Independence Library. Brenae had just left her parents inside to go play in the yard with some kids was when the gate collapsed on her. Brenae's aunt took us back to when she found out the terrifying news.
Earleth Shepherd, Aunt
"I was selling food for my mom and then I got the call from a friend saying that they think my niece got shot in her face, because her face was all bloody and then I began to pray and then after that I told my friend I can't do it, I need to go. My sister called and said 'you need to come, come now, you need to come and pray for Brenae because a gate fell on her head.' I went to the hospital and then I saw my brother-in-law, his jacket was all bloody and stuff and then immediately started to pray, because I am a believer. I started to pray and I said God you did it many years ago and you can do it now and then my sister was inside and then she came out and started to explain to us what happened. She said that Brenae was outside and she had her back turned, because Brenae was playing and she turn around to get Brenae to walk inside the library and she said she saw when the little boy pushed the gate and she saw the wheel jumped off the little thing that the gate would run on and then she saw the gate fell on Brenae. She started to scream and then Brenae dad ran out outside and then both of them tried to get the gate off Brenae."
When they pulled her from beneath the gate, she was bleeding through her ears and nose and not responding. They rushed her to hospital and that is where the difficult journey of countless tests, cat-scans, surgery and feeding tubes began.
Earleth Shepherd, Aunt
"Immediately they took her to do the CAT SCAN and saw the damage that the gate had crushed her skull and then it was resting on her brain and so they had to do a surgery immediately. After the surgery the doctor came out and said, I guess they look on her eyes to see if it was dilating. At that time it wasn't dilating good enough for them, so they were saying that Brenae - like it wasn't developing the way they wanted it to. At that time when she came out from the surgery they had a hand pump to let her breathe. She wasn't breathing on her own. The day my sister called and said they are going to do another CAT SCAN. So after they did the CAT SCAN, they said that a part of Brenae brains got damage - that was responsible for her to either walk or talk again. And told my sister we are not going to receive that. Throughout the time they had to feed her through her nose, she wasn't really responding the way the eyes wanted to see. Even the doctors say that sometimes you have the stage called the vegetation stage, whereby Brenae could have just stay on the bed, eating and then after that she won't be able to come back."
But she did come back. Brenae was released from the hospital on Saturday March 5th and since then she has been responding and returning to her old self again.
Earleth Shepherd, Aunt
"When she got home, she started to develop much better. I remember the first time my other sister call and said 'you know Brenae said hi to me?' I said awesome and after that it just started to come like this." (snapping fingers)
It was a devastating period for the family seeing baby Brenae suffer in the hospital.
And still, it is very difficult because she has a long road to full recovery - including removing an ulcer from her right eye.
But having her home and seeing her smile has given them more hope than anything.
Earleth Shepherd, Aunt
"We just want to give God thanks that she is developing and we know that she is going to walk fully, everybody part of her body will be totally healed."
The family is asking the public for financial assistance to take Brenae abroad to remove the ulcer. Also they are asking if anyone knows any good doctors in Merida, or if they can refer them to a specialist for Brenae. You can call 602 3074.
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