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Our Journey, Your Inspiration!
We are the Lasley's from central Kentucky. I am DeAnna and wife of Derrick for seven years now.
Our daughter, Deranne (pronounced Duran) was born on April 7, 2008. She was our first child and with my diabetes and my husband's 6'6" height, we expected a large child. C-section was already a possibility but we had another month before Deranne was born.
My water broke at 3 a.m. and we missed the ultrasound that would have told us Deranne was more than nine pounds. I couldn't push her into this world so the doctor ripped her into being before she suffocated.
Her brachial plexus injury was severe, affecting five nerves, C5, C6, C7, C8 and T1 on the left side. Deranne had the classic 'lazy eye' of Erbs Palsy and she couldn't move her left arm or hand at all.
We started range of motion therapy from day one.
After a 12-hour surgery when she was three-months old, we learned her C8 nerve was completely avulsed or torn out. The other nerves could be repaired and part of the C8 was fused to the C7 and T1 nerves in hopes they would grow.
They have. It's been a long and slow process but there has been so much improvement. Deranne has had two rounds of Botox to help encourage muscles along.
Today she is lifting "lefty," bending it and straightening it. Some movements are still a struggle. She has some grip in her left hand but doesn't open it yet. She carries items in the crook of her elbow and some things she can grip enough to carry. Some things she forgets she has in her left hand and they drop to the floor before she realizes it.
She doesn't crawl on it yet but there is promise of that. Of course she's walking now so who needs to crawl? But with a new baby brother, crawling will come. He wants to keep up with her and she will have to get down with him when he starts crawling.
She is learning to stretch up with her left arm. She loves aqua therapy and doesn't care much for the E-STEM therapy. And everything is therapy, crayons, books, silly putty, play shopping carts. Even her hair brush--'let lefty brush your hair.' She doesn't have the grip to keep the brush in her hand but that doesn't stop her from trying!
The first picture is roughly two weeks after surgery. The second picture is Deranne today.
