Bouncing back: Nolan ’s life after stroke

Although he’s only a little over a year old, Nolan Morel is a bona fide charmer. Clad in a red shirt and navy blue suspenders, he flashes a happy grin at his mother, Rosalia; his physician, Dr. Laura Lehman; and the others in the room. “Look at those dimples!” someone coos, and he giggles in response. “I can’t believe how social he’s being,” laughs Rosalia. “He wasn’t always like this.” In fact, Nolan’s first several days of life were anything but lighthearted. Just a few hours after his birth at a hospital north of Boston, he stopped breathing and had to be manually resuscitated and given oxygen. When these frightening episodes continued on and off for the next day, his physicians contacted the Critical Care Transport Team from Boston Children’s Hospital. Concerned that the newborn was having seizures, the team quickly transferred him to the Boston Children’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). “My heart sunk,” remembers Rosalia. “I cried myself to sleep in a cold hospital bed, unable to be with my child when he needed me most.” As soon as she had recovered enough to check out of the maternity ward, she was on the way to Boston, too. Difficult news There, she met up with her husband, Miguel, and then with Dr. Lehman from the Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center, who shared devastating news. “She gave us a sad smile and gave us Nolan’s diagnosis,” says Rosalia: A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan showed that the little boy had exper...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: Diseases & Conditions Our Patients’ Stories child life Dr. Laura Lehman feeding therapy occupational therapy physical therapy stroke Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center Source Type: news