HEALTH & WELLNESS
PAVING THE WAY WITH A SMILE
Local mother works to increase stroke awareness
By VICKI BENNINGTON
Pregnant with her first child in 2005, Jessica Spear never really
thought about major health issues.
A St. Louis County police officer at the time, she was fit and healthy.
She gave birth to Brendon in September that year with no apparent
complications, and the new mom and husband, Stephen, happily
took their baby boy home.
Jessica went into instant “baby mode,” really as soon as she found out
she was pregnant. And when she had the newborn baby in her arms,
she was in love. She quit her job, and became a stay-at-a-home mom.
Within two weeks, she began to think something wasn’t quite right.
She couldn’t put her finger on it, and doctors said Brendon was
progressing nicely, but still…he used his left hand so much more than
his right. Often, the whole right side of his body seemed to “slump.”
His right foot was turned out a little and when he started to walk, he
fell a lot. As he began to talk, he struggled to get sounds out. As a
new mother, Jessica wondered if this was “normal.”
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“I thought he might have hearing loss, because he wouldn’t turn his
head to the right in response to noise,” Jessica said. “A lot of it was
just intuitive. Sometimes moms and caregivers just ‘know,’ but they
stifle it. But it’s OK to talk about concerns.”
After trips to several doctors, Brendon was referred to a neurologist,
who within 15 minutes, said, “It’s cerebral palsy caused by a stroke
in utero.” Jessica didn’t even know such a thing was possible. Many
people don’t.
Brendon was 19 months old by the time this perinatal stroke
diagnosis was made.
For a few minutes, Jessica went into a form of shock.
“I felt like I had been punched in the stomach, and I could barely
breathe. Then I looked at Brendon, and he was playing and smiling,
and was exactly the same happy little boy as when we walked in,”
Jessica said. “And now I could try to get help for him.”
He had an MRI to pinpoint where the stroke had occurred and the extent
of damage it left in its wake. Brendon’s was a small, but deep cerebral
stroke that effected his motor skills, but was not that widespread.
OK, now Jessica had to get busy getting therapy and care in place.
That wasn’t easy. It was a struggle to find care for a small child who
had suffered a stroke. Lack of awareness made it an uphill battle,
and she wanted to make sure that other parents and children in the
same situation would have an easier go of it in the future.
GAZELLE STL
Jessica holds Brendon at 26 months of age as he receives an
electroencephalogram, which measures and records electrical
activity of the brain.
For several years, Jessica arranged a fall Childhood Stroke Awareness
walk to raise funds for children and their families who are affected by
stroke.