It’s been a good week for 7-year-old Reese Burdette of Mercersburg and an even better one for her parents who have been by her bedside since she was severely burned in a Memorial Day fire.
This week, Reese started to wake up after more than 110 days in a medically induced coma.
Since August, the sedation that has kept Reese still and as pain-free as possible has been slowly reduced, Reese’s mother, Claire Burdette, said in a phone interview Friday.
Wednesday and Thursday have been “really amazing,” Burdette said.
It’s been a week of firsts with Reese already holding a paint brush to display her artistic skills, beating her dad Justin Burdette in a game of tic-tac-toe and waving to hospital staff.
Burdette said it’s been difficult to watch her usual bundle of energy daughter lying completely still in an ICU hospital bed for the past several months.
“Justin asked her to wave to everybody, and she lifted her arm and waved to everybody. That was just so triumphant, because for so long we just saw her lying there flat with no movement,” she said.
Reese continues to recover from second- and third-degree burns to the right side of her body at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
She and her younger sister Brinkley were visiting their grandmother Patricia Stiles of Winchester, Va., during the holiday weekend when a fire broke out at the home.
Stiles, who also suffered burns and inhalation damage to her lungs, pulled Reese from the room where she was sleeping when the fire broke out at about 2:30 a.m.
Stiles’ husband Mike helped Brinkley escape. Neither Brinkley nor Mike were injured in the fire.
Burdette said her mother, Patricia, is getting stronger and stronger every day.
“She has been released from physical therapy, but will continue to receive therapy on her hands, which were badly burned,” Burdette said.
“She’s doing really well. She’s still regaining her strength. It just takes time,” Burdette said.
All Reese’s burns are healing, Burdette said.
Reese, like her grandmother, suffered inhalation damage to her lungs, but Burdette said the damage to Reese’s lungs was more severe than what her grandmother suffered.
“She (Reese) still has a lot of recovery to do on her lungs,” Burdette said.
“We’re hoping with her being awake — we just need time for her lungs to heal,” Burdette said.
She is still on a ventilator, but has a secondary form of oxygenation to her body.
Daily therapy on a right ventricular assist device (RVAD) helps the right ventricle pump blood to the pulmonary artery. This is the artery that carries blood from the heart to the lungs to pick up oxygen.
The RVAD allows her body to be oxygenated while giving her lungs time to rest, Burdette said.
Justin and Claire Burdette stay with Reese during the week and spend the night at a local hotel so they are never far from their daughter.
On the weekends, Justin’s mother comes to visit her granddaughter for a couple of days. Family is a constant by Reese’s bedside.
“Justin’s mother and father (Nina and Jim Burdette) have been basically running the farm so Justin and I could be here,” Claire Burdette said.
With each passing day, Reese is becoming more aware of things, Burdette said.
“We show her videos and show her all the cards that people have sent,” she said.
When asked what would brighten her daughter’s spirits through the healing process, Burdette’s response was quick.
“I just pray for the day that she can have visitors. Her friends would perk her up, but we can’t do that right now, because she’s still in the ICU,” she said.
When Reese’s former Mercersburg Elementary School kindergarten teacher Caroline Miller came to the hospital on Wednesday evening and brought an iPad filled with videos of some of Reese’s classmates, Burdette said Reese was delighted.
“She likes to watch TV and arts and crafts, but people are what she loves,” Burdette said. “That’s just the kind of child she is. She’s just a people person.”
Now that Reese is awake and getting more and more movement in her arms, her mother has one very special request of her daughter.
“My next question is to see if she’ll give me a hug,” Burdette said.
It’s been hard not being able to snuggle with her, she said.
She still has a tracheotomy in place, but once she can communicate better, Burdette said they are looking forward to using the latest technology to help Reese communicate with her friends back home through FaceTime.
Doctors have told the Burdettes that time will help Reese as much as anything.
“We ask for continued thoughts and prayers. The best thing that can be given to us right now are thoughts and prayers,” Burdette said.
Source: Herald Media
In order to help the Reese and Patricia and their families, there are a number of ways including:
- To contribute to Patricia and Reese’s Fund please Click HERE.
- Let’s show Reese Burdette how much we are thinking and praying for her with a card shower! Here is her address: John Hopkins Hospital, 1800 Orleans Street , Baltimore , MD. 21287 Attn: Reese Burdette, Bloomberg 4- South Room # 25
- A bank account is set up for Patricia Stiles and Reese Burdette. Mail checks to Capital One Bank 12806 Shank Farm Way Hagerstown , Maryland 21742. Place the names Patricia Stiles and Reese Burdette in the memo of check.
We would also like to thank all those who showed their support to the Help Heroes Fundraiser that raised over $24,000. (Read more: Helping Heroes Fundraiser raises $24,230 in support of Patricia Stiles and Reese Burdette)
