Brooklyn Gibson has had four surgeries, full-length casts on both legs and countless doctor’s visits during her first 15 months of life, but you would never know anything was wrong by the almost constant smile on her face.
“She’s our inspiration,” said her mother, Brittany Gibson.
When Jacob and Brittany Gibson arrived for an ultrasound to find out the sex of their second child, they received what many would consider to be devastating news. There were dark spots around their baby’s head, neck and back.
“At our 20-week check up, we found out something was wrong,” said Brittany Gibson.
A few weeks later, the couple found out that their child had myelomeningocele, a type of spina bifida in which the backbone and spinal canal do not close before birth. She also had hydrocephalus, a build up of fluid inside the skull, and club feet.
“That’s when we started doing our research,” she said.
The Gibsons knew they could provide the love and care their child would need.
“There was no doubt in my mind, we were keeping our baby,” Brittany Gibson said.
Brooklyn Gibson is one of more than 6,000 Central Illinois children with disabilities who receives services from Easter Seals. That number is growing. Last year, Easter Seals increased the number of children and their families served by 20 percent.
Each year, Easter Seals has a telethon to raise money and awareness for the organization. The 2010 telethon is from 6 to 11 p.m. Saturday at the Par-A-Dice Hotel. It will be broadcast on WMBD TV-31.
Brittany Gibson has a nephew who received services from Easter Seals, an organization that provides services to help children and adults with special needs and offers support to their families. She was happy with the care he received and choose to take her daughter there as well.
She said they toured the facility while pregnant “just trying to prepare for what we were getting into.”
“And then (Brooklyn) joined us,” she said with a smile that could rival her daughter’s.
Brooklyn Gibson had back-closure surgery just one day after birth and another surgery where doctors inserted a ventriculoperitoneal shunt into her head to drain excess fluid from her brain.
After the surgeries, Brittany Gibson said they started at Easter Seals almost immediately.
“She responded very well to physical therapy, which was odd at her age,” she said. “She cooperated, she didn’t cry, she did what she needed to do,” said Jacob Gibson.
