Tragic illness, accident draw Menifee families together
By: CATHY REDFERN - Staff Writer
2 injured girls to go to China in June for stem cell treatments | ∞
Chantelle Monteleone cuddles up to her daughter Mackenzie in their Menifee home while connected to her Web site Friday. Mackenzie was injured in a golf cart accident.
STEVE THORNTON Staff Photographer
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MENIFEE ---- For two Menifee families who have severely injured children, emotional support is as crucial as wheelchairs, ramps, special beds, pureed food, in-home nurses and physical therapists.
Much of that emotional support, along with financial help, has come from the community.
And, since meeting at a fundraiser in January, the families of 16-year-old Lauren Miller and 10-year-old Mackenzie Monteleone have become friends, and a support for one another. They are planning a trip to China in June to obtain live stem cell treatments for their daughters. Lauren received the treatments last year and, her mother says, they helped her significantly.
A car wash to raise funds for Lauren is scheduled for April 5 in the parking lot of Bank of America on Newport and Antelope roads in Menifee. Friends are planning a fundraiser for Mackenzie as well, but have not yet set a date.
Lauren became ill with West Nile virus in 2004, about nine days after being bitten by mosquitos on a Saturday in August. The popular, energetic Menifee Valley Middle School student was involved in gymnastics, cheerleading and other activities. But today, she remains in what doctors call a persistent vegetative state ---- albeit on the border of that condition, as she is increasingly aware of her surroundings, Bonnie Miller said.
In November, Mackenzie was pinned under the dashboard of a golf cart after she slipped and apparently fell on the accelerator, sending the cart into her dad's truck. Tests showed she was in cardiac arrest while pinned inside the golf court, leading to brain and other injuries, her mother said.
Mackenzie attended Cottonwood Canyon Elementary School, a joyful girl who liked cheerleading and dance. She is now in a similar state as Lauren, conscious but largely unresponsive.
During a recent visit, Mackenzie turned her head to look at a visitor. Her long-lashed eyes gazed for a long moment, her expression revealing little emotion before she turned away. At times, she opened her mouth as if to speak, but was unable to.
The mothers say both girls are improving, slowly.
Bonnie Miller vividly remembers the day she got a call from Menifee Valley Middle School saying Lauren was too sick to stay at school. It was two days after she became ill with flu-like symptoms and nine days after the mosquito bites, she said.
"To me, it looked like she had had a stroke," Miller said. "I scooped her up and took her to the hospital."
Lauren stayed at a local hospital for about a week before being transferred to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where doctors determined her brain swelling was related to West Nile.
Miller said it's a mystery why the virus struck with such force, and why Lauren's brain kept swelling after the virus should have run its course. Doctors initially said Lauren should be OK, but every few days she lost another function, her mom said.
"It was really hard to watch," she said, adding that it was particularly painful because Lauren knew what was happening, too.
"It must have been really hard for her," she said.
County health officials say 11 people have died in the county from West Nile virus since it was first diagnosed here in 2003. There were 16 West Nile cases reported in the county last year; down from 105 in 2004. There is no vaccine nor cure for the virus, doctors can only treat the patient's symptoms, said Barbara Cole, the county's disease control director.
When the Millers heard about Mackenzie's accident, they went to a fundraising dinner for her and offered to help her parents. Miller said she and her husband, an ex-Marine who works as a sheriff's deputy, "lost it" when a boy in Mackenzie's class recited a poem about their friendship.
"We truly felt exactly what they were going through; I've never felt that before," she said.
The families have second daughters about the same age who have become close. Both of the girls' moms worked with disabled kids before their own children became disabled, Miller said, and left the jobs to be at home with their daughters.
"It truly is nice to have a friend who really understands what you're going through," Miller said.
Chantelle Monteleone echoed those statements in a recent interview, as she sat beside her daughter's bed, in a room that once was a downstairs office but has been converted into Mackenzie's room. The walls and ceiling are adorned with banners, cards and photos from friends. She smiled at her daughter, stroking her arm.
She said she had recently called Bonnie Miller, in a moment of pain, asking why all this had to happen to Mackenzie. Bonnie invited her over to her house, telling her she cry for as long as she needed to, Monteleone said.
"They've really helped us," Monteleone said. "It makes it easier. Well, not easier ..."
What does help, she said, is seeing her daughter improve since she came home Jan. 15. Mackenzie has been much less agitated and has not cried like she did while hospitalized, her mother said.
Monteleone is hopeful about the trip to China, and said that Lauren's experience encouraged her to take Mackenzie. She says some doctors have told her Mackenzie will always be in a vegetative state, while others say perhaps not, but that it will take time.
The community has rallied behind both families, throwing fundraisers and sending all types of encouragement. Monteleone said there are many expenses their insurance policy does not cover. Miller said the community has been awesome and that fundraisers paid for most of last April's trip to China.
She said the treatments provide stem cells from the umbilical cord of healthy newborns and that Lauren will get six injections over four weeks, at a cost of $25,000. The hope is that the treatment will lead to the growth of new brain cells, she said. Lauren will also receive acupuncture, massage, electromagnetic stimulation and more intense physical therapy than what she receives here.
After coming home, Lauren was more alert, began tracking with her eyes and has a better appetite, she said. She has also been able to blink her eyes or move her arms when asked to do so, she said.
"Her neurologist thought she looked better too," Miller said.
Miller said her daughter smiles at her, and likes poetry, music and watching "The Price is Right" and "Hannah Montana." And, like any teenager, she is not averse to looking at photographs of herself, which her nurse held up for her on a recent morning. Her brightly colored room is full of stuffed monkeys, as friends knew she liked monkeys, and decorated with her trophies and cards and drawings from friends.
On a recent morning, Lauren moaned, protesting her mother's attempts to make her sit up straighter. Her mom kissed her forehead and directed her in a light tone to "straighten up, Sissy."
She said people keep telling her they have dreamt about Lauren getting better. That is her family's dream, too.
"Lauren keeps my hopes up," Miller said. "I get greeted with a big smile every morning. I guess we all just believe she'll continue to improve."
For information on the girls, visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/laurenashley or www.caringbridge.org/visit/mackenziemonteleone.
Contact staff writer Cathy Redfern at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or e-mail credfern@californian.com.
-- Community members have organized a fundraiser for Lauren Miller, a 16-year-old Menifee girl who contracted West Nile virus in 2004. In June, Lauren is going to China for her second round of live stem cell treatments.
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