Mariah Serrano’s family heard her voice Tuesday for the first time since the teen was critically injured in a two-vehicle accident on May 29.
Mariah, 15, was moved Monday from Stormont-Vail HealthCare in Topeka to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, Neb., to begin physical, occupational and speech therapy. She has been in a coma since the accident, and has been slowly awakening in recent weeks.
Her mother, Angie, and her father and stepmother, Ed and Carrie Serrano, are in Lincoln with her. The trio, which calls itself “Team Mariah” will be there for the first week and, if all goes well, then will begin taking shifts so someone will be with Mariah at all times.
On Tuesday, medical personnel exchanged a large tracheostomy tube, to promote easier breathing, for a smaller one in an effort to eventually wean her from the trach tube. The smaller tube allows sound to escape; that was something the larger one made impossible.
Tuesday’s sound was both a joy and a sorrow.
Mariah previously had used her face to show expression, since she was unable to use her voice. The expressions reflected frustration, pain and sadness. With the smaller tube, Mariah could cry instead of showing only crying-type facial expressions.
“We now have sound today,” Mariah’s stepmother, Carrie Serrano, said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon. “We can hear her cry now. ... It’s heartbreaking; truly heartbreaking.”
“It’s breathtaking and sad at the same time,” Angie wrote Tuesday night in the family’s CaringBridge Journal entry. “... Now it’s tough because we are hearing her cry and we just don’t know what to think and do. It’s the same look but with sound now.
“It was a pretty emotional moment for all of us. We thought ‘Mariah is back.’ Just simply amazing. Again, you don’t realize how much we take for granted ‘til you haven’t heard your child’s voice in a very long time.”
Mariah underwent initial assessments with occupational, physical, and speech therapists, and a social worker on Tuesday, beginning about 7:30 a.m., Carrie and Ed Serrano said.
“Then, hopefully, we’ve been told we will have a plan that will entail what her short-term and long-term goals are,” Carrie said. “... They aren’t giving us any false hopes.”
Tuesday’s assessments were wearing on the teen, who was given a shower early in the morning, followed up by a day of intermittent tests and trials that finally ended around 3 p.m.
“The longer the day went on, she got extremely tired and worn out,” Serrano said.
The assessments are expected to last up to 5 days before medical staff can get an accurate read of Mariah’s current state and her potential for improvement.
Mariah’s mother wrote that she was encouraged by what she had seen this week, describing the interaction that took place when a physical therapist, Laura, told Mariah to look at her mother.
“With a little effort, she looked and even turned her head a bit,” Angie wrote. “She then told her to look at dad, and she looked towards Ed and turned her head towards him. Just amazing things in only 24 hours.”
People who want to send cards to Mariah may send them in care of Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, 5401 South St., Room 136, Lincoln, NE 68506.
A fund was set up in June at Lyon County State Bank to help defray expenses. People who want to make donations or who participate in fundraisers for Mariah and her family need to make checks payable to the Mariah Serrano Medical Fund. Checks can be sent to Lyon County State Bank, 902 Merchant St., Emporia KS 66801.