Dream Come True

Rachael Jaworski’s eyes sparkle in the spotlight as nurses, doctors, family members and friends surround her at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg. And as a television videographer focuses his lens on her, one of the doctors comes in for a hug.

“Rachael, this is Dr. (Michelle) Smith,” her mother, Wendy Jaworski, explains. “She was one of the doctors with you through critical care.”

Indeed, most of the people in this room are strangers to Rachael. But, just 19 months ago, they had all worked together to save her life.

On Dec. 26, 2009, Rachael, then 10, collapsed in her bathroom with two brain aneurysms and a ruptured arterio-venous malformation. Paramedics rushed Rachael to Lakewood Ranch Medical Center and later airlifted her to All Children’s, where she would remain for two months as doctors assessed the damage to Rachael’s brain.

Although Wendy Jaworski describes the family’s first visit to All Children’s as “the day that changed our lives forever,” on July 18, the hospital was the site of unparalleled joy. Rachael and her family received a Disney cruise to the Bahamas — including Disney’s Castaway Cay — through the Children’s Dream Fund. The family will depart July 29 for the four-night trip.

The cruise marks a time of celebration for the Jaworskis, whose lives have been peppered with roller-coaster highs and lows since Rachael collapsed. The injury caused her to lose all her motor functions, and in the months that followed, she regained much of it through grueling physical therapy. She now is able to talk, walk and eat. However, she still has no short-term memory.

“It is 10 minutes at a time,” Wendy Jaworski says. “She has good memory of before the stroke — but nothing after.”

But, that doesn’t take the joy away from this moment. Rachael smiles as she digs into a basket of goodies for the cruise. Then, she turns to talk about the family dog — a bedside promise Wendy and her husband, Michael, had made while Rachael was still in the hospital.

“Her name is Cookie,” she says. “C-O-O-K-I-E.”

About one year ago, Rachael underwent CyberKnife radiation surgery to shrink the AVM. The family is scheduled for an MRI Aug. 16 to see whether the malformation is shrinking. However, the two brain aneurysms still are a threat.

“We are no better off than we were at the beginning,” Wendy Jaworski says. “But, we’re not quitters. She’s come so far, and we can’t believe this is as far as she’s going to come.”

Rachael was in the middle of her fifth-grade year at McNeal Elementary when the injury occurred. And despite her condition, she was able to graduate on time and move to Nolan Middle School. Last year, with the help of a one-to-one aide, she completed her sixth-grade year and now is readying for the seventh grade.

This summer, Rachael also is exercising her brain through a five-week Swedish program called Cogmed. The Jaworskis hope strengthening the brain may trigger some improvement in Rachael’s memory.

“Sometimes, things like this can bring a family closer or tear them apart,” Wendy Jaworski says. “For us, it’s definitely brought us closer together.”

The St. Petersburg-based Children’s Dream Fund fulfills dreams for children ages 3 to 18 who have been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. For more information, visit www.childrensdreamfund.org.

To read our previous coverage on the Jaworski family, click here.

Contact Michael Eng at [email protected].