Kassandra Kea

Kassandra Kea

LEAPS AND BOUNDS

Thanksgiving 2000 was anything but a typical holiday for Kassandra Kea of Wahiawa, Hawaii. Five-year-old Kassandra was riding her bicycle near her house, when she was struck by a car reversing out of the driveway.

Kassandra was rushed to the emergency room, where surgery was performed on broken femurs in both legs and a crushed left knee. She spent Thanksgiving and the next 11 days in the intensive care unit. The accident left her unable to walk.

It was during her rehabilitation process in September 2001 that Kassandra was admitted to Shriners Hospitals for Children - Honolulu. The orthopaedic surgeons at the Honolulu Shriners Hospital were determined to help Kassandra be able to walk again, but that meant she would have to undergo several more operations on her leg.
Due to the severity of her injury, Kassandra's knee stopped growing; so while the rest of her body grew, her left leg became crooked. Now 12 years old, Kassandra has an Ilizarov fixator - a device that consists of pins placed through the bone and attached to a series of metal rings and rods outside the leg - placed on her left leg to straighten and lengthen it.

Dr. Ellen Raney, chief of staff at Shriners Hospitals for Children - Honolulu, has taught Kassandra how to turn her Ilizarov rods all by herself, something she must do on a daily basis in order for her leg to become straight again. She is now able to walk with crutches.

It has been a long road to recovery, but Kassandra is well on her way, thanks to the family-centered, comprehensive care offered at Shriners Hospitals for Children.

Thanks to Dyan Kleckner, Honolulu Hospital,
for this Story Contribution