March 23, 2007, has had an extreme significance to Winter Garden\u2019s McMann family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On that day, veteran Andrew McMann was serving in Iraq when he was hit by an improvised explosive device resulting in him having broken legs and a traumatic brain injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the past 19 years, McMann and his family have thought of the date as a day of injury and disability.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe body keeps score,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that all changed March 23, the day his 12-year-old daughter, Esther McMann, was supposed to go to a doctor\u2019s appointment at 7 a.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, when Esther\u2019s mother, Mary McMann, went to wake her up at 6:20 a.m. for the appointment, she noticed Esther wasn\u2019t feeling well, prompting her to cancel her appointment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While she was canceling the appointment, Mary McMann explained to the person on the other end of the line what was going on with Esther.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I went to wake her up, she would not wake up,\u201d Mary McMann said. \u201cI picked her up, moved her to the couch, and she wouldn\u2019t walk \u2026 She wouldn\u2019t open her eyes, and she wouldn\u2019t talk.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The receptionist suggested Mary McMann take Esther to the pediatrician immediately.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEven then, I tried to get her dressed, and she wouldn\u2019t,\u201d Mary McMann said. \u201cThis is a healthy kid, I was like, \u2018There\u2019s something really wrong.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I can\u2019t believe we didn\u2019t lose her\u2019<\/p>\n
Worried for Esther, Mary McMann quickly transported her to the emergency room.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Esther was taken to complete a CT scan, which showed a brain bleed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe doctor comes and tells me, \u2018I don\u2019t know how to tell you this, but she has a bleed in her brain, and it\u2019s big. \u2026 This is either a tumor or an AVM (arteriovenous malformation),\u2019\u201d Mary McMann said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
The ER called an ambulance to transport Esther to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, and when she arrived, she was taken into surgery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because of the brain bleed, surgeons placed an external ventricular drain in Esther\u2019s head, to drain the bleeding for a few days.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Surgeons also confirmed Esther had an AVM, an abnormal tangle of blood vessels that creates irregular connections between arteries and veins in the brain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe arteries and vessels are pumping blood toward each other, so it could rupture again,\u201d Mary McMann said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Andrew McMann already was suffering from PTSD, and now he was unsure of what was to come for his 12-year-old daughter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked him how he was doing, and I was very shocked to hear him say, \u2018I can\u2019t believe we didn\u2019t lose her,\u2019\u201d Mary McMann recalled. \u201c\u2018From now on, this is our day of life.\u2019 It used to be our day of injury, disability, but now, this is our day (of life) \u2014 he survived and she survived.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Esther was supposed to get surgery for an embolization of the AVM in April, but when surgeons performed an angiogram to capture pictures of the AVM, they decided to wait to perform a craniotomy because of the high risk of stroke.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey canceled the craniotomy scheduled for the next day and said it was just not safe to have surgery, so we came home for four weeks,\u201d Mary McMann said.<\/p>\n
During those four weeks, the McMann family observed Esther diligently, ensuring the AVM did not rupture.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In May, Esther completed another angiogram, which confirmed she could have the craniotomy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Esther had surgery Tuesday, May 5, and the AVM was removed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the surgery, based on the CT scan that they took, it looks like it\u2019s gone and she\u2019s 100% cured,\u201d Mary McMann said. \u201cI\u2019m not quite 100% settled, because she\u2019s not 100% back yet. She\u2019s got a lot of life and light that we can\u2019t quite see yet, because she\u2019s not quite back all the way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Esther is suffering from memory loss, mobility difficulties, as well as receptive and Broca\u2019s aphasia and apraxia of speech.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even then, the family considers it a miracle that Esther is alive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If it wasn\u2019t for the cancelation of one doctor\u2019s appointment, the situation could\u2019ve gone differently.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tight-knit community<\/p>\n
The McMann family is a part of the Winter Garden Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and when their congregation learned about what happened to Esther, members of the congregation did all they could for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
More than just praying for them, a group of a dozen boys and one girl who are seminary students from Esther\u2019s congregation shaved their heads in solidarity with her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn seminary, the students wake up early before school to learn about Jesus Christ,\u201d church officials said. \u201cThese students followed Him by loving and supporting Esther.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The idea stemmed from Esther\u2019s brother, Noah McMann, and his friend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just want her to know that we\u2019re behind her and that we\u2019re supporting her,\u201d Noah McMann said. \u201cWe\u2019re here for her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Among the students who shaved their heads was Esther\u2019s sister Naomi McMann.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShaving our heads before all of this is something that we wanted to do together eventually,\u201d she said. \u201cSo when all of this happened, she was able to come home and we knew that she was going to have to shave her head anyway, so it was like, \u2018Let\u2019s do this together.\u2019 On top of wanting to do it together \u2026 I wanted to do it for her to show her that us, girls, can pull it off, too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beyond the church, the community came together as a whole to support the family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWest Orange is a special place,\u201d Andrew McMann said. \u201cWe are so blessed to be here and to find people that care, a literal community that cares. \u2026 It felt like it was a community problem and people wanted to help, and that\u2019s just special. It\u2019s invaluable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The family also was touched by how caring and loving healthcare providers are at the hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re doing God\u2019s work,\u201d Andrew McMann said. \u201cI just cannot say enough good things about the people that we\u2019ve experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Blessing in disguise<\/p>\n
Esther shares a room with one of her sisters.<\/p>\n
On the day of the incident, Esther threw up by the toilet, but her sister never notified her parents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the hospital, Esther\u2019s sister blamed herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIn all reality, this is what would\u2019ve happened if she would have come in and told us: Mary would have called the doctor and said she\u2019s not feeling well, we would reschedule, and we would have put her back to bed to sleep it off,\u201d Andrew McMann said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If the bleeding was left untreated, it would pose significant risks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was a blessing in disguise.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery step of the day, we\u2019ve been extremely grateful,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to recognize the miracle and (we feel) just immense gratitude.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After a successful surgery, the McMann family now is setting up physical, speech and occupational therapy for Esther.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although this part of the journey is just beginning, the worst already has passed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lesson that you get from something like this,\u201d Andrew McMann said. \u201cGratitude and thankfulness of where we are at.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mary McMann said this experience also allows them to sympathize and be there for others in the future, because they\u2019ve \u201cbeen through more now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
To them, this was a trial, and the sheer relief of having Esther home makes every second, every minute and every day of this fight worth it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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