Alana and Breana were born twenty-five week prematurely and had many health issues. Their lungs were underdeveloped, they had Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and they had Reactive Airway Disease (RAD). The twins also had issues producing blood and had to have their small bowel removed. Alana had surgery for her ROP and right leg bone infection and was then hospitalized due to a respiratory virus. Breana was placed in the hospital due to a stomach virus and had trachea reconstruction surgery. Probably due to all the surgeries, the twins were diagnosed with Failure to Thrive, not growing properly. The girls were given blood transfusions and placed on medicine.
When they first came into the program at age 23 months, they were unable to talk or feed themselves. They were seen by three different therapists weekly and began to show quite a bit of improvement. At 32 months, they were starting to talk more and began showing signs of grown. They were becoming more self-sufficient, which was seen in their ability to articular what they want and to feed themselves.
They faced additional surgeries and their Family Advocate and Health & Disability Coordinator made certain the girls got what they need to improve, working directly with the therapists and participating in the review meetings with the family, therapists and doctors. They made sure the girls’ mother kept track of their health and improvements and connected the mother with other services the program does not provide. Mom was connected with classes she needed to better their family life and the progress the family made was exceptional, especially with all the hurdles they had to face!
