Sarah Jane Donohue lost more than half her brain when her baby nurse violently shook her when she was just 5 days old.
Now 2, she cannot speak, sit up, walk or even crawl. She wears splints on her tiny hands and ankles to keep her muscles from involuntarily curling her limbs toward her body. She takes medication to prevent seizures and wears a patch over her left eye to help her right one grow stronger.
“I don’t look at it as a void,” her father, Patrick Donohue, said of his daughter’s brain damage. “I look at it as a wall – a wall to climb under, over or around. I do what I have to do. She’s only got one daddy.”
Determined to make her whole again, Donohue posted Sarah Jane’s medical records online, hoping her plight will spur advances in care for the 1,400 babies who are injured from being shaken in the United States each year. About 25% die; the rest are left with disabling, life-long injuries, according to the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome.
“Every time this happens, a parent has to re-create the wheel,” Donohue said.
Sarah Jane’s brain scans, videos and progress reports on her physical therapy are posted on www.thebrainproject.org to help other parents find new ways to help their kids.
Sarah Jane spends much of each day in rehab, learning how to chew and trying to build enough upper-body strength to hold up her head.
Her dad has come up with makeshift exercises for her, including placing her in a harness suspended over a moving treadmill to encourage her to walk. The girl squealed and grinned Monday as she showed off for reporters in her Tribeca apartment.
Her nanny, Noella Allick, pleaded guilty to shaking Sarah Jane last October and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Allick also was convicted of hurting a Long Island baby.
The tragedy tore the Donohues’ marriage apart, and Patrick Donohue has custody of the little girl. Vanessa Donohue did not return a call Monday, but “she spends time with her [Sarah Jane] and is supportive of what we’re doing” with the Web site, her ex-husband said.
Sarah Jane’s prospects are still uncertain, her father said.
“Early on, her neurologist said she doesn’t want to create false expectations, but there’s no reason not to be hopeful,” he said.
