Thursday, May 3, 2012

In Nebraska, Miss Star City Gives Back to Developmental Play Group | Shaken Baby Syndrome


It's Miss Star City's way of giving back and inspiring young girls in Lincoln.
Three-year-old Olivia and five-year-old Alexis, both princesses and traumatic brain injury survivors.
Tiffany Verzal is Alexis' mother. She says, "She was a victim of shaken baby syndrome."
Michelle Grieser is Olivia's mom. She says, "She suffered respiratory distress and then cardiac arrest twice, which was ultimately caused by the para-influenza."
Miss Star City Katrina Poppert threw the princess party for the 6-month to five-year-old developmental play group, which is for kids with needs ranging from ADHD, autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injuries and visual impairments. The group meets almost every week throughout the year to give kids and families a place to have fun, get support in a safe, interactive environment.
Katrina understands what many of these kids are going through, she's a traumatic brain injury survivor herself. Poppert tells 10/11 the injury happened her senior year of high school when she was competing in diving.
She says, "Two weeks before the state competition, I slipped and fell on the locker room floor at Devany, hit my head on a wooden bench and then the concrete floor and blacked out. I lost a lot of memory, I did a lot of speech therapy, as well as balance, so I was at Madonna for about six months doing outpatient work."
On top of that, Katrina had eight back surgeries for injuries from gymnastics.
Parents say having the girls and other kids see Katrina's success means they can do it too.
Tiffany Verzal says, "To come out and show these kids you can overcome disabilities, you can be a part of the community and that you can give back. I just love being able to see Alexis interact with her and be able to say here's a great role model to you, this is someone you can grow up to be like."
Michelle Grieser adds, "What's inspiring to me is not just her story, but the young woman she's become and so I can look at Kati and say, bad things can happen to absolutely wonderful people and they can be survivors and their lives can turn out to be fantastic beyond our imagination."
Katrina just wants to give these kids a chance to shine.
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If you have any questions or concerns about what can be done to help babies who have been shaken, or families of babies who have died, please call Christopher Keane and The Keane Law Firm toll-free for free consultation at (888) 592-5437 (KIDS), click on contact us here, or use the web form provided at http://www.keanelaw.com

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