Big Mike, Little Claire BearOn Halloween last year, my 27 year old sister Claire was headed home from her job as an intake counselor at a drug and alcohol facility in Wilmington, Delaware. She stopped at a light on 2nd street and heard a strange thumping that seemed to be coming from her car. Her car has been known to be problematic, so she immediately thought it was something in the engine going wrong. She also heard the voices of a group of inner-city youth outside her window, and thinking that they might be trying to tell her something about her car, she rolled down her window. She asked them to repeat themselves, and in the next instant she was struck in the face with a large, rock-hard object, causing her nose to bleed and her entire face was shocked pain. As she tried to stop the blood from falling all over her lap, she heard the group of guys laughing at her. She became dizzy and could barely see well enough to pull away from the scene before they threw another rock.
Claire called 911 and the operator asked her to give a location of her car and the incident. Claire knew she was on 2nd street, but did not know a cross street. She was hesitant to drive far because her sight was impaired and she was disoriented. As she tried to find a cross street a man with a pit bull came up to her car and asked if she had been hit by a rock, because the same guys threw rocks at his car. She said yes. He asked if she had called 911 yet. She said yes... then panicked. What if this guy was friends with the others? What if he was trying to stop her from calling 911? What if he had a gun? She slammed on the gas and headed up the street a few blocks until she found a McDonalds. She told the woman on 911 that she would stay in the parking lot there. Then Claire called her fiancé, Mike, and told him what happened. He dropped everything he was doing and made his way to Wilmington. He and the police arrived at the same time.
My sister Claire with her fiancé, Mike, some time before Halloween 2007By the time the police arrived, there was no one on the street to arrest. Claire had very few details to give them for a description of the perpetrators--they were all Africa-American, all wearing baseball caps, all wearing long white t-shirts, big jeans and sneakers. Basically the description of 90% of the youth in the area. The man with the pit-bull showed up and tried to assist the police with more details. Unfortunately there was not enough detail to apprehend any suspects, no other witnesses came forth, and the boys had fled the scene by this time.
Claire went to the ER and ex-rays were taken of her face. The good news was that she did not break her nose. The bad news was that there were possible hairline fractures in her cheekbone around her left eye. They stopped the bleeding and gave her strong painkillers to take home. Her eye bruised and her cheek swelled. But under the circumstances, it didn't look all that bad.
Sisters: Meg, Claire, Maureen, and Me wearing scarves Aunt Dot knit for us. Dec. 28, 2007Claire followed up the ER visit with a local doctor who wanted to keep a watch on her eye and cheekbone. He had a "wait and see" approach, saying that surgery could be possible later on but there was no use in doing it now. They should wait and monitor the healing process. Claire stopped taking prescribed painkillers so she could go back to work. She loaded up on Ibuprophen and dealt with the residual pain.
Two months later, Claire was still feeling pain in her head and around her eye. She noticed that her vision seemed blurrier in the left eye as well. Two weeks ago when I was home for Christmas, she said that she noticed that her eye seemed to be getting smaller--that it did not look symmetrical with her right eye. At her next doctor visit the physician measured her eye, and it had indeed recessed into its socket a few millimeters. Yet he still continued with the "wait and see."
Me and Claire - Dec. 26, 2007Alarmed, Claire spoke to her neurologist about what was going on. She knew of a local eye specialist who was among the top three in the country. Claire decided to go and get a second opinion. This took place late last week.
The new specialist showed immediate concern. Her eye was recessing. She was still in pain. Her x-rays revealed fractures in her cheekbone and the growth of scar tissue. He could not believe that her original doctor advised her to hold off on surgery. The development of scar tissue would now make a relatively simple procedure become far riskier and more difficult to complete. Surgery was absolutely necessary, and it should have been done 2 weeks or less after the incident. It was now 10 weeks since Halloween and the chances of success had been reduced from 100% to 60-70%. Risks now include the usual complications of any surgery, plus a chance of blindness in that eye. A steel plate would need to be implanted behind the eye socket to prevent further recession and later blindness.
Claire is going to have this surgery tomorrow, January 16. She needs your thoughts and prayers. She is a kind, sensitive, intuitive girl and never deserved anything like this. Her dedication to her job, where she helps inner-city youth on a daily basis in the same bad area of Wilmington, is a testament to her compassion and generosity. She is also very dedicated to finishing her college degree while she works full time, so that she can find a better paying job in social work after graduation.
Claire and Mike on Thanksgiving 2007, toasting to their engagementClaire and her fiancé Mike are scheduled to be married this coming October. My prayer is that she recovers completely without any loss of sight, in addition to a painless, scarless surgery so that she looks exactly the same, beautiful and radiant, when she has healed. Please keep her in your thoughts tonight, tomorrow, and during her recovery.
Meg showing Claire her picture as she tries on wedding dresses. November 2007Labels: family
