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Norton teen's family prepares for her return home

Akron Beacon Journal - 11/27/2019

When she arrived at Akron Children's Hospital on Oct. 19, doctors didn't expect Norton High School cheerleader Emma Pfouts to survive more than a few hours.

On Wednesday, hospital staff sat her upright for 15 minutes as her family prepares to bring her home in about a month.

Emma was brought to the hospital after a severe asthma attack during her homecoming dance. For several minutes, she was unable to breathe and aspirated, blocking her air passage.

But day after day and week after week, despite suffering a severe brain injury, Emma has defied the odds and made slow progress.

And day after day, thousands of people from Norton and beyond follow her progress from her mother's daily updates on social media.

Christina Weigand can't stop praising the community support and medical attention her daughter is receiving.

For the past few days, Emma has been battling a post-surgery infection. On Wednesday, her mother said her fever is down.

"The antibiotics seem to be working for her infection," said Weigand, who has stayed every day with her daughter since the fateful night Emma came to Children's.

Her father, Chris, and sister, Kylie, have constantly been at Emma's side, too.

On the eve of Thanksgiving, Emma was about to achieve another step in her recovery as Children's staff prepared to sit Emma in a chair for the first time since she's been hospitalized.

"They want to set her up and see how she does," Weigand said. "We haven't seen her out of bed for 39 days."

The session turned out well, Weigand texted after it was complete: "She did great! She was able to sit in the cardiac chair for 15 minutes and tolerated it so well!"

Emma has been in a medically induced coma or sedated for most of the time she's been in the hospital, but moved her hand and -- her mother believes -- tried to mouth words when she was partially awakened more than a week ago. Since then, she's been heavily sedated for "neuro-storming," when her brain overreacts to outside stimuli.

The progress may seem slow, but recovery from the extensive brain injury experienced by Emma may take years. And her family isn't sure how complete the recovery will be.

Still, Weigand said the family is preparing to bring Emma home.

"We're shooting for Christmas," her mother said. "But it's going to be between Christmas and the first week of January."

Weigand said the family is doing more hands-on care for Emma and learning how to care for her at home.

"We are actually preparing the house for her now," Weigand said.

To keep Emma at home, the family is adding medical equipment and will hire two nurses to tend to her 16 hours a day. Her mother's not sure how much therapy Emma will need, but she's confident Emma will eventually walk again.

Beyond that are a long string of questions about how far her vocal and intellectual capabilities will recover.

"When she was awake, it looked like she was mouthing some words," Weigand said. "They are going to look at that again when they get the neuro-storming under control. The fact that she can move her arms and hands is really good."

In addition to nurses and medical equipment, Emma's family will need a special van to help move her from home to the hospital and back.

Her mom said that's on the Christmas wish list, and she's working with the hospital to identify what kind of ride Emma will need and how to get it.

Even though she's not home, Weigand said the family was planning a Thanksgiving with Emma.

"We're going to have some family up here and enjoy the day together," she said. "We're taking it a day at a time."

Alan Ashworth can be reached at 330-996-3850 or emailed at aashworth@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconj.

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