Rebekah Sue Grys 11-30-91
Bekah is the second half of our 'split egg'. She has an identical twin, Abby. They were adopted by our family when they were 2 years old. Such beautiful babies! Bekah always had medical issues, even as an infant. She had renal artery stenosis, which caused high blood pressure. She was put on blood pressure medications when she was 12 months old and had surgery at Loyola University when she was 3 to fix her arteries. The surgery was not successful.
When Bekah was 18 years old, she had a vertebra collapse and her spine became dislocated. It was a horrible situation and we were told that she had a 90% chance of being paralyzed. After being in the hospital for 4 months in halo traction and undergoing a very risky 12 hour surgery, Bekah had her spine rebuilt by a wonderful doctor in Peoria. She still says he saved her life. 
Little did we know that this was not the end of her problems. She had just barely recovered from that surgery when they found that she had several anurysms in her renal arteries and her aorta....She needed emergency surgery and Dr. Geiss, in Peoria really did save her life. She spent over a month in cardiac intensive care, not only from the aorta/artery replacement, but she also caught the H flu which ended up with her being on a ventilator for over a week. 
Then she got pancreatitis so was on a no fat diet, which she really could not afford to do because she still had not regained her weight that was lost from the first surgery.
Since all of the medical problems she has become very vocal. She has an opinion and she has no problems stating that opinion. She did a lot of growing up.
The good news is, because of all she went through, she was granted a trip through Make-A-Wish. She of course picked a trip to Disney world and totally enjoyed every minute of it. She spent her 19th birthday with the princesses at disney.
Bekah completely recovered
and attended prom with a
friend from Special Olympics.
Fortunately, she had been taking ballroom dancing lessons with her dad, so she actually hit the dance floor.
At this point she is fully recovered and is really missing the ability to partake in the sports she so loved. She can no longer play basketball or bowl, play soccer or speed skate, but she has adjusted by being the manager for several special olympics sports teams.
Oh, and she continues to dance with her daddy. She is a blessing from God and we are thankful for her every day.
