NORTON, Ohio — The mother of 17-year-old Emma Pfouts, a Norton cheerleader who fell critically ill last year from a severe asthma attack during a school homecoming dance, took to social media to talk about her daughter's progress and a setback the family experienced.
According to Christina Weigand, Emma underwent neurological testing this week, but was unable to make it through the entire test.
“She has some things going on with her neurologically due to the brain injury and a lot of time the answers are that they don’t know because there’s not a lot of research on anoxic brain injuries,” Weigand said.
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Emma's mother said that up until recently she didn't know the difference between an anoxic brain injury and a traumatic brain injury.
"As I have said before, prior to Emma’s incident, I didn’t even know there was a difference between the two. Now I know that ABI’s are fewer and far between and not often able to be researched as much so the answers tend to be they don’t know," Weigand said. "As a parent, this is never the answer you want to hear about your child. You want to know the specifics of every detail so you know you are making the right choices for them."
Weigand wrote that she never expected Emma to regress after making strides with recovery.
“It’s difficult to see all the forward progression she’s made and not have answers as to why we are now seeing this. We know her brain is healing and hope that in time this will change for the better. In the meantime, we focus on the positive and encourage her along the way. She is aware of what is going on with her so we just remind her of how far she has come and how much she has fought to get back to where she is now,” Weigand wrote.
Still, the Emma’s family remains hopeful that she will recover.
“We are thankful for every day we have with Emma, good or bad. Almost five months ago we were praying for her to just be able to be here in any capacity possible,” Weigand said. “Now we have her personality, her spunk, and her determination to get as much back as she can, and we are blessed to even be able to even say that.”
The Norton community has rallied behind Emma through everything—something Weigand says she is thankful for every day.
“People have been incredibly kind, supportive, and generous to us during some of our darkest moments and we are forever grateful to each and every one of you. In a world where you hear so much of the wrong in people through the news, social media, etc., we have been blessed to see all the good in people and are grateful for that,” Weigand said.
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