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As Told By Her Mother,
Former First Lady of Minnesota
-Terry Ventura
 My daughter, Jade
Ventura was born in 1983. She was overdue so the doctors decided to induce
labor. Jade arrived in this world seemingly healthy, but within hours, she
began having over 100 seizures per hour. The hospital tried three types of
seizure medication to control them, but nothing worked. Eventually, a specialist
was called in and CAT scans and spinal taps were performed on our newborn
baby girl.
The results were frightening. Our family was
informed that Jade had a brain like "swiss cheese" and would be
in a vegetative state for the rest of her life, or maybe even die. Of
course, we were horrified! She looked like a normal healthy baby to us. We
decided to have Jade baptized at the hospital, and leave the rest to fate
and God. A nurse in the infant intensive care unit suggested the medical
team try B6, a vitamin that sometimes helps seizure patients. By some
miracle it worked! Jade's seizures began to decline, then finally stopped.
The doctors still did not know if there would
be permanent brain damage. They performed more tests and discovered that
the holes they thought were in Jade's brain were really pockets of fluid,
and that fluid was dispersing. Jade was going to make it after all. Time
would tell the rest. We left the hospital with our beautiful baby about
three weeks after she was born. We were so very happy!
As Jade grew, she seemed to be progressing
normally. When she received her first set of immunizations, I was warned to
keep her on Tylenol or a fever reducer for at least 24 hours and to watch
her closely (which I did). Sometimes immunizations can cause fevers which
can cause seizures and Jade definitely needed to stay seizure-free to stay
healthy.
At her next immunization appointment and
check-up she was pronounced healthy and normal for her age and was given
her shots. I was given no warnings this time. I put a happy little girl to
bed that night. Suddenly, at about 2 or 3 AM, I awoke to a gurgling
grunting noise coming from Jade's crib. I ran to her and she was having a
grand mal seizure. I called an ambulance, and she was put in intensive care
again. I was shocked. This time Jade suffered permanent damage and her life
with real disabilities began.
The damage became most obvious when she was
first learning to walk. Jade could not break her own falls, she would fall
head first. She did not even have the simple reflex to put her arms out to
save herself. She began school at the famous Courage Center
in the Twin Cities at one and 1/2 years of age. I had to put her on a
bus, and she would ride it to school about 3 days a week. It broke my
heart, but she loved it.
Jade has always loved school of any sort, and
always tries her darndest to be the best at what she does. After Courage Center,
she attended the Peter Enich Early Childhood and Development Kindergarten
in Anoka, MN. She went to both the early child
and kindergarten sessions of the school. She has received all kinds of
therapy over the years. But now she only has speech and observational
occupational therapy.
Jade came to love horses at the tender age of
six years old. Her first pony was "Muffin" a 36 year old Shetland
who loved kids. She only lived with us about one and 1/2 years, and her
passing was a great sorrow for Jade. Since then, she has owned "Big
Boy" another Shetland pony and "Cinful Sugar", a double
registered pinto / overo paint mare (female horse).
Sugar and Jade make a great team. Together,
they won both the Tri-State Championship for Western Pleasure and the
Reserve Championship for Western Equitation in 1996. We still have Sugar,
but she is semi-retired.
Jade is now a 9th Grader and is 16
years old. She can drive wave-runners (personal watercraft) and she is just
learning to handle our John Deere tractor at the ranch. Soon she will start
her driver's permit training. She plays the piano and the flute, and sings
in the school choir. She played basketball on school teams almost every
year (including two championship basketball teams, one in second grade, and
one in eighth grade). This year she decided she wanted to concentrate on
her horse-showing.
Jade is often on the "B" Honor Roll at
her school and was just elected student representative to the student
council by her peers. Her favorite subjects are choir and cooking.
Jade doesn't believe in the words "You
can't do it". She is like her father, and will try anything. She is
brave, but not stupid or foolhardy. She loves to learn and experience new
things. Jade is the reason that I started The Jade Foundation.
Without a doubt, Minnesota has the best Special Education
in the country. Jade is the product of these very effective public education
programs. But she is also the product of intense parental
involvement, lots of love from her big brother, support of her friends, and
care and attention from her extended family. It takes a lot of people and a
lot of time to help a child be successful in life, no matter what their
disabilities are.
With your help, we can raise awareness
and get money to programs to help these kids succeed, so there will be more
success stories like Jade's.
God Bless,
Terry Ventura
First Lady of MN
CEO and Founder of The Jade Foundation
1999
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