2-3-2019***
Paulding Oh***
Princess Ariel, Princess Rapunzel, Princess Jasmine and Aladdin From Enchanted Memories crossed the border to Coronate Princess Marissa of Paulding.
Provided by Marissa’s family
Marissa was born May 1993 at 5 1/2 weeks early due to the hydrocephalus (water on the brain) which the docs said could cause brain damage if she went full term. She was in the hospital for 5 1/2 months due to many complications from the hydrocephalus and from a failure to thrive diagnosis. They day that we left the hospital, the doctors told us to take her home and enjoy her as much as possible, because we may only have her for a year at the most. Much to the dismay of many, she is 25 yrs old now. She has had a very long and rough road over the last 25 years with multiple health issues. Her diagnosis at this time include, hydrocephalus, cerebral palsy,asthma,restrictive lung disease, severe scoliosis(curvature)of the upper and lower spine, Dandy Walker Syndrome and failure to thrive. Marissa is 25 but has the body size of a 4 yr old. Mentally she is behind for her age, but she is a very smart and strong willed young lady. Marissa is bound to a stroller or wheelchair in order to get around, but we take her with us wherever
we go so that she stays socially involved with everything. She has defied the odds for many years and just keeps smiling through all of her problems. She is a very personable young lady that loves to talk to people and loves to laugh. She is a huge country music fan and has become quite smitten with Keith Urban. In fact so much so that when Keith Urban was in Toledo in October he got word of how big of a fan of him she is, that he came to the hospital in Toledo to see her because she was to ill to go see him in concert. This was her dream come true.
Marissa currently has been hospitalized for 11 weeks now 3 weeks in Toledo and currently 8 weeks in Columbus. Marissa was admitted with aspiration pneumonia and had to be on a ventilator continuously for 6 weeks. While admitted for the pneumonia she kept complaining of belly pain. Upon
doing a scan they found that the shunt draining her hydrocephalus was causing a very large pseudo cyst in her belly. They had to externalize her shunt and then transfer her to Columbus. While in Columbus she has gotten her shunt re-internalized and has a feeding tube put in. She has battled a few infections while here and her blood pressure, core body temp and heart rate all dropped very dangerously low. She is slowly overcoming all of that and will hopefully get to come home soon. She is a very strong willed young lady and continues to fight for her life every step of the way. She truly is a miracle.
This has been a very long journey this past 11 weeks but we also feel the love and support from family, friends and the community during this time.
Here are a few sneak peeks photos the full album will be posted on Greenbear Photography on facebook shortly. You will be allowed to tag, share and downloads any of these photos courtesy of Enchanted Memories by Greenbear.
