Supporting Sammie's Surgery

Samantha Hayes is a kind, curious, smart and funny 5 year old who loves swimming, taekwondo, coloring, dressing up like a princess, horses, and playing with her dog Woody. Like other kids her age, she is excited to start kindergarten soon! Sammie and her mother Sarah are starting the next phase of their incredible journey.

Samantha has Cerebral Palsy caused by birth trauma. One of the big challenges at this stage of her life is the spasticity of her leg muscles. It impacts everything she does where movement is required - and let me tell you this kid likes to move! With spasticity, Samantha’s leg muscles contract uncontrollably and remain tight, resulting in Sam feeling pain and discomfort, walking on her toes (full ballerina style) and sometimes losing her balance and tumbling when she tries to move quickly. Because of her condition, Sammie regularly faces challenges that most kids her age don’t. She wears braces on her legs and endures painful inter-muscle injections. While many friends are enjoying days at the playground, Sam spends hours every week working hard with a physical therapist.

After years of treatment, the family has researched other options to help improve Samantha’s quality of life. With the help of Sammie’s awesome care team, they learned that she is an ideal candidate for a specialized spinal surgery called selective dorsal rhizotomy. (This procedure has been performed on kids with CP with good success for over 30 years). The goal of the surgery is to improve quality of life for kids with spasticity caused by CP. In Sammie’s case, this means that if the surgery is successful, she’ll be able to walk with a more typical foot position, gait and range of motion.

There are only a few Children's hospitals in the country that perform the 8-10 hour surgery, and Children's Hospital Colorado, Anschutz is outstanding. Samantha and Sarah recently had the chance to visit Children’s Hospital Colorado, Anschultz to meet the neurosurgeon, rehabilitation physician, physical therapist, child life specialist and other members of the team that care for kids before, during and after the procedure. They also toured the hospital and rehabilitation center and connected with other families whose children are in the rehabilitation phase following surgery. After this visit, they feel very confident that this surgery is the best choice for Sammie and all of her doctors agree.

While they are grateful that Sammie is a candidate for surgery, the family is facing a long journey with a challenging recovery and a LOT of rehab. But they are hopeful that, with a lot of hard work, in 3-4 years, Sammie will be completely unencumbered, allowing her to live her life to the fullest :).

Details: The surgery is set for November 2, and with her 6 week in-patient rehab immediately following, they are expected to be discharged December 23. Following their return to San Diego, the marathon continues with out-patient rehab 3x/week for the next 6 months. Samantha will be in a wheelchair and/or walker for 1.5-2 years after surgery as she learns how to walk again.

Help needed: They are lucky to have health insurance, but it will only cover part of the costs of surgery, rehabilitation and other medical expenses. With temporary relocation to Denver, out-of-pocket medical expenses not covered by insurance, new medical equipment, retrofitting the house to accommodate medical equipment, time away from work, etc., the costs will be substantial. Sammie and her family are facing a bit of an uphill battle and could use support. Thank you for considering a contribution to help defray some of these costs. They are grateful for your support and encouragement!

When a parent has to make a decision like this it's never easy. Quality of life, being able to live without pain, stress and limitations should not be held up by financials. We all love this family and I want to do everything to make sure Sammie has the tools to grow and succeed in life. She's the smartest and sassiest human and I adore and love her. I know she is going to do amazing things in life and I can't wait to see what else she brings to this world.

Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy Surgery for Spasticity

Pediatric Inpatient Rehabilitation Program