Quadriplegic mom faces new challenges
BY
Diana Rossetti
CANTON TWP. Chloe Dee Wackerly not only was determined, she arrived six weeks
early. Three weeks ago, the dark-haired, four-pound, nine-ounce bundle became
the second daughter of Rosanna Neff and Chad Wackerly.
But that is where the small-family-adds-baby story tale ends and the real story
begins.
Rosanna and Chad were high-school sweethearts at Canton South High School. A few
years after graduation, they married and had a daughter, Courtney, now 11 and a
fifth-grader at Walker Elementary School.
But the marriage faltered and the couple divorced, remaining on friendly terms.
EVERYTHING CHANGED
Four years ago, after dinner and drinks in the Belden Village area with a
girlfriend, Rosanna took the passenger seat in her friend's car as they headed
south toward home on I-77.
"We ended up drinking too much and she hit a guardrail," Rosanna, a tiny
rail-thin brunette, recalled.
She remembers only bits and pieces of the weeks that followed. There were broken
bones and a concussion. But she can not remember who told her that her neck had
been broken and that she would be a quadriplegic for the rest of her life.
"That's what's amazing. I ask Chad that all the time. Who told me? But it was
almost as if I knew, they didn't have to tell me, which is really bizarre," said
Rosanna, 28.
She soon learned that the bones in her neck had pierced her spinal cord. She had
no movement from her shoulders down.
Before the accident, she had been the catering sales manager at the Canton
Marriott. Now she had to learn an entirely new way of living.
Chad, 30, a self-employed drywall installer, moved back in to help care for
Rosanna and their daughter who was 7 at the time. Robbie and Elizabeth Neff, her
parents, pitched in as did Chad's mother, Brenda Wackerly. Nine hours a day,
seven days a week, a home health aide helps her with the most basic of tasks.
Though when they were married, Rosanna and Chad wanted more children, they
assumed her condition would preclude that possibility.
BABY ON THE WAY
When Rosanna discovered she was pregnant, she said, it was a genuine surprise.
"The pregnancy was tough, I was in and out of the hospital these last couple
months every other week with issues with contraction and bleeding," she
explained.
But early or not, Chloe was a hearty infant, staying only a little over a week
in Aultman Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit. Last week, mother and child
attended Courtney's first softball game of the season.
Though the couple has a lift-equipped van, Rosanna, weighing only 83 pounds,
said Chad usually carries her to the car and fastens her seatbelt.
These days, Chloe spends much of her time snuggled against her mother's chest,
surrounded by pillows.
"We've got her propped up so she can't go anywhere. I do feel her head on the
top of my shoulders and shoulder blades," Rosanna said. "And if it's just right,
I can feel her breath on my neck. It's going to be tough but I'm definitely up
for the challenge."
Every three hours through the night, Chad arises to feed Chloe and change her
diaper.
A hospital bed in the family living room is Baby Central. Rosanna expects to be
back in her wheelchair soon.
"I have a really amazing electric wheelchair that I use with head controls. I
move my head slightly to the left and we go left," she said.
Though she initially was on a ventilator to help her breathe and later had a
tracheotomy for two years for the same purpose, Rosanna practiced breathing
exercises, intent on being free of breathing assistance. Today, she is.
The former cheerleader makes frequent use of a voice-activated computer. Family
members regularly help her exercise to maintain range of motion in her limbs.
She has spoken before classes of high-school students about drinking and driving
and expects to do more in the future.
"People ask me all the time how I get through it. People take the simplest
things for granted, brushing their teeth, wiping their nose. God saved me and
I'm going to live my life as best as I can whether I can use my arms and legs or
not."
"I've got to believe that I'll walk again. I do truly believe it," she said.
"We're really hoping for stem cells to come a long toward that."
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