SUMMARY: Recovery Supportive family and doctors help Becky Bletscher inch back from a ruptured brain blood vessel

Bob and Sue Bletscher of Milwaukie are thankful for the little miracles in their 17-year-old daughter Becky's life.

Like her breathing. And walking, talking and smiling.

"Her dimples are back, and in last year's yearbook, friends wrote, 'You have the best smile.' So that was progress," Sue Bletscher said.

Four years ago, they weren't sure of any of these simple gifts.

A ruptured arteriovenous malformation in Becky's brain left the athletic, smart 13-year-old unable to walk, talk, read, write or smile. Today, Becky hopes to inspire others with her story.

Her recently completed senior seminar project at Rex Putnam High School, which focused on her AVM experience, is one avenue for doing this. The project, titled "Sharing My Story," focuses on her journey of recovery.

Becky wrote her story and sent it to Guideposts and Guideposts Sweet 16; created a video for Oprah Winfrey; and visited a hospital patient facing a health crisis. Because they could not get the video to Oprah, Becky instead used it as a presentation.

Becky's favorite part of her senior seminar project was meeting with 11-year-old Gilda, a patient at Legacy Emanuel Children's Hospital who also had an AVM.

"Gilda and her mom had a lot of questions, like what happened at the hospital and at home. I told them how my parents helped me do everything," Becky said.

When Becky was in the hospital with her injury, a girl named Lindsey, who also had an AVM, visited her.

"I looked up to Lindsey, seeing her talking and walking, and that she was a normal person with hair. And it might be the same now for Gilda, to see my progress," Becky said.

Her project was well-received by the teachers who sat on the senior seminar panel.

"Becky's work brought tears to my eyes as well as the panel to which she exhibited her project," said Nancy Oliphant, Becky's senior seminar instructor. "She's the epitome of courage, faith and determination, and an absolute inspiration."

Becky's journey began June 2, 2002, a seemingly routine Sunday. Her family attended Faith Evangelical Church, where Becky's father is pastor. Later that day, Becky performed in a piano recital. Then, after chatting online with friends, she told her mom she had a severe headache. When her speech slurred, Sue knew something was horribly wrong and called 9-1-1.

"Her whole right side went numb, and she passed out," Sue Bletscher recalled.

In the ambulance, on the way to Willamette Falls Hospital, Bob Bletscher heard paramedics say, "We've lost her." Later, the emergency room doctor said, "It doesn't look good."

"But we didn't give up hope. We prayed," Bob said.

After a CAT scan revealed a huge bleed in Becky's brain, she was rushed to Oregon Health & Science University for immediate surgery. The neurosurgeon there, Dr. Kim Burchiel, said Becky had suffered a ruptured AVM, a disorder in which arteries and veins within the brain become malformed clusters that, when ruptured, can cause strokelike symptoms or death.

After Burchiel surgically removed the malformed clusters, Becky was transferred to Doernbecher Children's Hospital for recovery.

Many details of the experience, like the first time Becky breathed on her own after the rupture, are remembered only by her parents.

"It was 1:30 a.m., the Wednesday after the AVM rupture, when doctors removed the ventilator, saying, 'Come on Becky, breathe.' And she did. I thanked the Lord for that incredible miracle --and for working the night shift," Bob Bletscher said.

It would be the first of many blessings. But Becky wasn't feeling so lucky.

When she looked in the mirror a week after the injury, she sobbed. Her long hair had been shaved for surgery, and her face was droopy.

Other things made her cry, like wearing a helmet to protect her head before a bone flap removed during surgery could be replaced. "People just stared at me. I felt normal, but I didn't look normal," Becky said.

After her week at Doernbecher, Becky was moved to Legacy Emanuel Children's Hospital for rehabilitation, spending seven weeks under the supervision of Dr. Janice Cockrell, medical director of pediatric rehabilitation.

"She's a great kid. She's a hard worker. She just doesn't stop trying," Cockrell said.

Becky buckled down with physical, speech and occupational therapists from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each weekday. "At first, I couldn't do anything for myself, like go to the bathroom or brush my teeth," Becky said. It took three weeks of slow progress before she was walking, with a cane and a brace on her right foot.

Sue Bletscher remembered Becky relearning colors: "She'd see blue and say other colors --red, orange, yellow --till she got to blue."

Becky's mind overflowed with thoughts.

"I wanted to write down what I felt or people I wanted to see, but couldn't remember how," she said.

Becky's diligence those first months was essential to her rebounding.

"That first summer home, when all my friends were going to camps, parties and having fun, I was working so hard to walk, read, write and talk again," she said.

North Clackamas School District provided a tutor in eighth grade, and Sue started reading books aloud to her daughter, which continued into high school.

Becky's determination and her family's sustenance propelled her progress, though adjustments were needed.

And challenges remain.

Cockrell, who continues evaluating Becky as an outpatient, recalled a follow-up visit in September 2005.

"Becky still had a slight weakness in her right finger movement, and she had some word-finding problems," Cockrell said.

Becky's mother recalled at the end of last summer an incident with bark dust: "She said, 'That brown stuff we spread.' " After Sue gave her the first sound, Becky came come up with the word.

Long-term plans remain for Becky to attend George Fox University, though she's swapped her dream of being a nurse with the goal of becoming a physical therapist.

The family doesn't view the modifications as setbacks, instead focusing on the gift of life.

"You don't realize what you have until it's almost lost," said Becky's brother, Robbie Bletscher 23. It makes you treasure "just eating dinner together," he added.

While doctors returned Becky's bone flap to her head four months after the injury, Bob Bletscher recalled the recovery nurse saying, " 'I've worked here 23 years, and have never taken care of anybody who's survived an AVM.' That shows what a miracle we have, and we thank the Lord every day for that."

Cornelia Seigneur: inaword@comcast.net