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|  Blessing In Disguise: Spencer Family Weathers Life-Changing Challenges By MARY HERMAN-CAPPOLI
It's one of the things parents dread most - their teenager being injured in an automobile accident. But for Deb and Dale Hovagimian, it was a Godsend. On May 7th, the Spencer couple's 17-year-old son Harry suffered a head wound when his truck was struck by another vehicle. Taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center, Harry underwent a CAT scan and waited to be released from the hospital. But just three days later, the Hovagimians received news they never expected - Harry had a brain tumor. Silently growing for years, the tumor was nestled in Harry's cerebellum, an area in the brain that governs balance, throat and facial muscles, coordination, and vision. The doctors at Boston Children's Hospital, where the Hovagimians sought a second opinion, said the tumor "was quite large and in a very difficult place to remove," explained Harry's mother. "They also told us that if they hadn't found it, in a few years it might not have been operable." The day after his appointment in Boston, at which he was given a May 26th surgery date, Harry had another very important appointment to keep - his graduation from WPI's Math and Science Academy. A two-year program for gifted high school students, the Academy had been the perfect place for Harry to pursue his ardent love of mathematics. It was also the place where he had explored a host of other interests, including robotics, downhill ski racing, and mentoring middle schoolers, as well as working with the Prom and Yearbook Committees. While Harry reveled in the graduation ceremony, his parents did their best to enjoy what was a "very emotional time," said Deb Hovagimian. In the next few weeks, Harry and his family would weather more than their fair share of emotional times. On May 26th, after doctors spent six hours removing the tumor, Harry's brain began to swell. Over the next 24 hours, he underwent two additional surgeries. First the doctors inserted a device to drain the fluid that was causing the swelling. But when an emergency MRI showed the extent of that swelling, neurosurgeons performed yet another eight-hour surgery to remove a bruised section of his cerebellum. Harry would spend the next nine days in ICU. "But when he awoke from the last surgery and could open his eyes, move his feet, toes and right hand, the doctors said that with good care in a good rehabilitation facility, he should be able to come back 100 percent," said his mother. On June 14, when Harry was transferred to Fairlawn Rehabilitation Hospital in Worcester, his limitations were many. He couldn't sit up or use his left arm and hand. He also had double vision, was unable to speak or even swallow. "Initially, Harry had no swallow function at all, so a feeding tube was necessary, " explained Denise Baer-Rogan, speech-language pathologist. "And his speech was profoundly impaired - very slurred and difficult to understand." For the next two months, Baer-Rogan worked with Harry for two hours a day. "At first, I had him use single words and over-articulate every sound so his speech would be clearer," she said. "When he had gone over the strategies once or twice, he just flew. Literally, day by day, his speech became much more intelligible." Improving Harry's swallowing took weeks of therapy. "We all take swallowing for granted … We're born doing it, so we never have cause to think about something going wrong with it," explained Baer-Rogan, who used a variety of therapeutic exercises to strengthen Harry's throat muscles. And once again, her patient rose to the occasion. "He would always, always practice his exercises - at night if he couldn't sleep, whenever he had a spare moment," she said. "And he never complained about not being able to eat." On June 26th, the day Harry turned 18, Baer-Rogan gave his family the go-ahead for a special birthday treat. "His family had a party in the gazebo outside the hospital. After everyone sang happy birthday, instead of having cake, his parents cracked open the cooler and everybody, including Harry, had pudding," she said. "It was the first thing he could eat without supervision." Harry's birthday brought yet another milestone in his recovery. "When my father called me that morning to ask how it felt to be 18, I told him it didn't feel any different - just like any other birthday," explained Harry in a recent interview at Fairlawn. "But just a few hours later, one of the therapists challenged me to make good on a bet I had made that I would be walking by my birthday. We decided to give it a try, and I walked a few feet across the gym. Then I called my father back and said, 'Hey, Dad. Today feels a lot different.' It really made the day so much cooler." According to Harry, what made his stay at Fairlawn a lot cooler was the encouragement he received not only from his treatment team but also from other staff. "Sometimes, when I'd be working on something in the gym, therapists I didn't even know would come over to help me," he said. "It's awesome when people care when they don't have to." Denise Baer-Rogan saw that same level of caring in Harry. "He'd take the time to sit with the elderly patient who was alone in her chair or talk with another young patient who wasn't yet doing what he himself was doing," she said. "Yes, he's a brilliant young man, but he's so well-rounded, so likeable." Harry, who sees nothing extraordinary in his ability to maintain National Honor Society grades while making time for yoga, tai-kwon-do and volunteer work at his church, is quick to credit his family for their support. "My mother comes in every morning to have breakfast with me and spends her two days off here at the hospital. My father's here everyday after work, and my 13-year-old brother Carl gave up playing baseball so he could come to see me when I was in Boston," he said. Now working at Fairlawn's outpatient center to further improve his speech and mobility, as well as the strength in his left arm and hand, Harry looks forward to resuming his education as a college freshman at WPI. And although he will have to wait until January to do so, his optimism remains squarely intact said Denise Baer-Rogan. "Before his discharge, he said to me, 'You know, Denise, things could have been worse. I could have been having a great summer and not even known I had this tumor. Then, if they found it a few years later, they might not have been able to do anything.'" Deb Hovagimian echoes her son's sentiments. "The way we see it, Harry's accident was definitely a Godsend." Also see: Family's Love Goes the Distance | |||||||||
