Girl on mend after illness

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Girl on mend after illness

TIM LaBARGE / Statesman Journal

Mackenzie Houser, 10, recovers in her room at Doernbecher Children's

Hospital in Portland. Houser was 30 minutes from death when her mother took

her to Salem Hospital on June 26 with purple spots on her legs. Doctors have

yet to identify the near-deadly infection that struck the fifth-grader.

A strange, deadly infection is gone as quickly as it came.

SUSAN TOM

Statesman Journal

July 30, 2002

Mackenzie Houser restlessly adjusts her body on the white-sheeted bed,

moving her bandaged left foot with the natural grace of a young softball

player.

Holed up in a Portland hospital in a deadly match against a mysterious

infection that cost her a left foot, right toes and six fingertips, the

pigtailed catcher with the not-so-great batting average already missed

playing in a Parrish All-Star game.

Not to mention basketball, shopping and playing with friends.

Now all the Salem fifth-grader wants is to get out in time for the family's

camping trip this summer.

Mackenzie is bored. And for perhaps the first time, that's a complaint that

parents and Judy Houser are glad to hear. It means their daughter has

finally turned the corner and is on the home stretch to recovery.

After the purplish spots first appeared on Mackenzie's legs, leading public

health officials treated those who had close contact with the Auburn

Elementary student for possible meningococcal disease.

Five weeks later, the unknown infection left as quickly as it came.

Mackenzie is off the ventilator and breathing on her own. Her kidneys are

nearly back to normal; she no longer needs dialysis.

And the rash on her arms and the purplish spots on her legs have all

disappeared.

The stomach pains and nausea have mostly subsided and the phantom pains

where her foot used to be are gone with a push of the medication button.

Best of all, she could be home in about two weeks. And for everyone, that's

a major league victory.

Doctors still are no closer to finding out what the infection was, but they

say Mackenzie's survival is a miracle.

When Judy Houser took her daughter to Salem Hospital on June 26, three days

after Mackenzie first felt ill, she was less than 30 minutes from death. It

was sheer luck that an emergency room nurse who was suppose to be on a

dinner break was at the door when Judy tried to get Mackenzie out of the

car. The nurse immediately rushed the child pass admissions onto a bed,

where she was stabilized for transport to Oregon Health & Science

University.

" It's kind of weird, it's kind of scary, " Mackenzie recalled about the

experience.

Dr. Amira Al-Uzri, a renal specialist at OHSU, said she didn't expect

Mackenzie to pull through.

" She was one of the sickest kids I've seen in the ICU, " Al-Uzri said.

But the family's strong support and positive attitude and Mackenzie's

courage and strong made a difference, she said.

Dr. Ron Turker, an orthopedic surgeon, said full recovery will take 6 to12

months, starting with the fitting of a prosthetic left foot in several

weeks. She'll have to learn how to walk again and figure out new ways of

holding a pencil or a catcher's glove.

Mackenzie will rapidly regain use of her fingers, although they'll be

shorter, and she won't miss the use of her right toes much, Turker said.

On Monday, the eve of her 10th birthday, Mackenzie is more worried about

whether her Auburn Elementary School classmates will make fun of her foot

and fingers than she is about the physical challenges ahead.

Playing with the itchy scabs below her bandaged fingertips, Mackenzie

proudly talks about how she's already master the use of a wheelchair,

something she needed help with before.

" I feel very lucky. "

Tom can be reached at (503) 399-6744.