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After giving birth, paralyzed teen finds hope in newborn
Posted by
JLoThursday, January 19, 2012
Three-months pregnant and just three days after her 18th birthday, Chyna Young was shot and severely injured. Living with paralysis from the neck down, Young gave birth to daughter, Jada, in October, and she is now using her daughter as inspiration.
"I just want to play with Jada," she said. "I'm so happy when I see her."
A bullet slammed into her neck that night in June, ending Young's plans to become a nurse. Instead, she is learning to be a mother, her baby a gift in the midst of loss.
Young sounds wistful as she talks about walking again, or maybe regaining the use of her arms.
But she has tried to remain positive, wearing her hair in fashionable braids, a flawless manicure on her fingernails. She will begin online university classes this spring.
"I'm strong. Smart. Creative. Funny," she said. "And a friendly person."
Jada Ma'Rae Faith Young wasn't the first baby born to a quadriplegic at Memorial Hermann Hospital-Texas Medical Center. As one of the city's two Level 1 trauma centers, it regularly receives badly injured patients who are pregnant.
But most gunshot victims, and most spinal cord injury patients, are male, and few members of the staff at TIRR Memorial Hermann had worked with a pregnant patient who had suffered such severe injuries.
They learned.
And along the way, Jada became their secret weapon, inspiring Young when fear, exhaustion and teenage rebellion threatened to stall her progress.
Learn more about Chyna and Jada.
Check out the Parenting with Disability Fact Sheet from the Paralysis Resource Center.
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