Jamiey Teal defies odds as miracle child

Quietly sleeping, 12-month old Jamiey Dandleallen Teal looks like any other 1-year-old baby. Her long eyelashes rest on chubby cheeks, her lips are open in a relaxed bow, and wisps of feathery-soft hair fall across her head.

If it weren’t for the tube leading to a tracheostomy and the oxygen tank sitting nearby, there would be little evidence of her daunting first year of life to the casual observer.

When she is awake, Jamiey’s challenges are more apparent. Born 14 weeks early, her first year has been a continually intertwined exercise in pain and progress, joy and struggle. The right side of her face is paralyzed, and her vision has been slow to develop, so her eyes tend to cross. Seasonal allergies that would give other babies runny noses cause Jamiey’s respiratory system the same distress, but the wheezing and coughing are amplified by her tracheostomy and respirator.

Despite these challenges, Jamiey is a calm, content baby. She radiates with the resilience and determination that have kept her alive and continuing to improve regardless of her difficult birth.

“Even though she can’t fully smile, I can tell when she’s happy. Her eyes light up and she focuses on you. She is always trying to express herself,” said Charles “Steve” Zeigler, Jamiey’s grandfather.

Born at 26 weeks, Jamiey has faced a number of struggles. Her family recognizes the battles still ahead, but do so with gratitude that she has come so far already.

Kristie Zeigler, Jamiey’s mother, discovered she was pregnant at four and a half months gestation. She had experienced high blood pressure during her first two pregnancies, but wasn’t prepared for the severity of her situation with the third. She was kept under sedation to prevent seizures or strokes from her preeclampsia (a pregnancy complication of high blood pressure and protein in the urine). The second day of her hospital stay, staff from the McLeod Neonatal Intensive Care Unit visited Kristie to discuss the very real possibility her baby would be arriving later in the week.

Born by Cesarean section that Thursday, April 3, 2008, Jamiey Dandleallen Zeigler weighed 1 pound, 15 ounces and was quickly whisked to the NICU, but not before Kristie heard her cry.

“I made the nurses open the incubator door so I could hear her cry before I let her go. I didn’t know if it would be the first and last time I would hear it,” she said quietly.

Jamiey was admitted to the NICU with a long list of complications: she had a heart murmur; her blood pressure was low; her thyroid gland was functioning too low; her right lung had collapsed and her left lung showed symptoms of pulmonary interstitial emphysema, a complication of premature lung disease. She also could not breathe or eat without the assistance of tubes.

With her mother recovering from her own complications and Jamiey in the NICU, their extended family waited vigilantly at McLeod, praying for the health and safety of both Kristie and Jamiey.

“When the doctor who delivered Jamiey asked me what I thought of her, I said, ‘She’s so small!’ The doctor replied, ’She’s 1 pound, 15 ounces! That’s pretty good!’ I told him, “I eat steaks bigger than she is!” Steve said, laughing.

“Pawpaw,” as Steve is called by his grandchildren, has a loud, animated voice that holds Jamiey’s attention as he speaks. Though he was at many times in her early life afraid to handle the fragile baby, he now is at ease with Jamiey in his lap and her two siblings, 8-year-old Jordan and 6-year-old Haylie, cooing and holding their sister’s hands.

Many weeks after Jamiey was admitted, caregivers moved her respirator tube and noticed that the right side of her face seemed slack. An MRI conducted in June confirmed there was atrophy of the right cerebellum.

Dr. J. Thomas Cox, the physician who admitted Jamiey to the NICU, along with Jamiey’s neurologist, inferred that an in-utero stroke had likely caused the atrophy and the facial paralysis. He said unlike her other complications, Jamiey’s stroke and damage to her brain were not likely to have been cause by her extreme prematurity.

“Until the last month before she was discharged, there were more bad days that stood out than good days,” Kristie said.

Jamiey’s progress was slow, but nevertheless miraculous. She continued to grow stronger and get better.

On August 26, 2008, Kristie and her family prepared to bring 5½-month-old Jamiey home for the first time. On top of the care other babies would need, Jamiey has at least six doctor’s appointments each month. She is visited weekly by a physical therapist and will soon begin seeing a speech therapist. Jamiey’s caregivers are working to wean her off the ventilator; six months after that is successfully accomplished, they may begin the process of weaning her off her feeding tube.

Though Kristie and her family sometimes feel overwhelmed by Jamiey’s situation, they see Jamiey’s determination and good nature as inspiration. They are amazed at how intently she focuses, how calm she is, and how rarely they see the silent tears that indicate Jamiey is crying.

“If Jamiey can do what she does every day, despite what she’s been through, I can do it too,” Kristie said.

How to help

Donations to McLeod Children’s Hospital can be made during the Children’s Miracle Network Celebration Broadcast on WBTW News13 from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday by calling (843) 665-4100 or toll-free (866) 668-4862 or by visiting the McLeod Foundation Web site at http://www.mcleodfoundation.org and clicking on the Children’s Miracle Network icon for an online submission.