"In the Arms of an Angel"

by the parents of Infiniti Shell

 

On the evening of June 26, 2004, an evening that will never be forgotten, Angels protected and held Infiniti Shell in their arms.  Infiniti was mowing the yard on a riding mower when the seat  broke away as she turned. She began to fall.  Trying to hold on as the seat fell off, she turned the mower back toward the way she was falling.  The riding mower ran across her lower left leg and was on its way back around for another cut at her leg.   Her father ran towards her and yelled: “Infiniti, move away from the mower! If you can, try to move!” With God’s grace she was able to  get up and hop away before the mower could get back around.

 

 

She was rushed to North MS Medical Center in Tupelo, and  later transported to Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center.  During her stay at Le Bonheur she had two surgeries. God put her in the care of angels . . . including her nurses, her surgeons, Roscoe, and a green little boy named Bernard.

Her first surgery was on June 27, 2004. This surgery was to  try and save her left foot. But there was too much damage.   Then we were told that we had to make a decision.  This was    one of the hardest decision any parent could ever dreamed of having to make concerning their child.  We could choose to put Infiniti through a major surgery which would consist of removing a muscle from her back to put in her foot.  (But that choice came with a lot of “IF’S.”)  She would later begin to walk on the side  of her foot and would still need more surgeries in the future.  Our second choice was to remove the leg, which would allow her to go on with her life as a nine year old.

We sat down with our beautiful little girl and explained as best we could these choices.  We asked her: “Infiniti, how would you feel if the doctors removed your foot and you got a new one?   This foot would be different from what you have now . . ."   Infiniti looked up at us with her big brown eyes and asked:  “Would this new one do the things my old one did?”   We told her that with time   she could do everything she had done before.   But this would be an artificial leg . . . it would not    be real.  Infiniti then asked:  “Like granddaddy’s leg?”   We answered yes.   An amazing response came from our brave child:  “Cool. I can take it on and off!"  And she smiled.

 

With this response, not only were we relieve, we knew that our daughter was going to be fine.

 

As of now the amputation was a success and it has completely healed.   On November 15th, we traveled to Shreveport to the Shiners Hospital for Infiniti to be fitted for a prosthetic.

 

Infiniti is back in school as a fourth grader.   Her favorite subject is math.   Between physical therapy, doctor visits to Le Bonheur, and dealing with this at such a young age, Infiniti remains an A and B student. 

 

We would like to thank the six floor nurses, our Plastic Surgeons, everyone who works in the STARLIGHT ROOM, and every surgeon, anesthesiologist and surgery nurse who helped in Infiniti's care.  We can never thank them for everything that they have done for us.   We have to give a very special thanks to nurse Kellie from the six floor, ER Nurse Rachel, Dr. Franklin, Roscoe (Infiniti’s best friend!), and last but not least, Bernard and his Mommy, Diana.   We will never forget you.  

 

Each of you will always be in our hearts and in our prayers.