My aunt, Crystal Montgomery (nee' Moliere') is an amazing young woman. She has overcome tremendous odds, especially this past year-and-a-half.
Crystal, who is now nearing 24 years of age, is recovering from a condition known as acute transverse myelitis, which is a rare neurological event caused by inflammation in the spinal cord, resulting in numbness, tingling, or pain (depending on the area of the spinal cord that is affected), or, in worst case scenerios, paralysis. In her case, she had the paralysis. She is now just learning to walk all over again (albeit with forearm crutches or a walker and leg braces).
It all started with my little sister, Ronee', who was then 7. Ronee' had suffered one of her famous asthmatic attacks, and it happened to be a bad one; so bad, in fact, the kid stopped breathing altogether. Well, Crystal happened to be the one who found her lying so still on the ground, not moving, her eyes closed; and of course she panicked. Well, when she went to check on Ronee' 's breathing, she was dismayed to find out that the kid was NOT. She also didn't have a pulse.
Whereupon, she started doing CPR on my little sister while she had me call the paramedics for an ambulance.
When the paramedics got to our place and took over Ronee' 's care, Crystal went to get up--but fell back on the ground, a look of sheer puzzlement on her small face. She said her legs felt all numb and funny, and she was seeming to have a hard time trying to get back up; and that the "funny feeling" WASN'T going away.
Needless to say, the paramedics now had TWO patients on their hands; and TWO patients were then put into the back of the waiting ambulance.
At the hospital, Ronee' was checked over by the doctors, and she would be okay in a matter of a few hours; she would probably just stay the night and would then be released from the hospital the following day; but Crystal, meanwhile, was immediately admitted, and she then underwent a battery of neurological tests and exams, to see what was going on with her legs and why they were numb.
Tests later concluded that Crystal was suffering from a rare and often severe neurological disorder known as acute transverse myelitis. She would probably end up being paralyzed at the worst case scenerio, but on the other hand, she could recover from it completely and show no after-effects.
The former was what happened. Crystal is still partially paralyzed a year-and-a-half later. But she is now WALKING.
A miracle, indeed. A miracle we ALL would NEVER, EVER forget.
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