Happy Milestone For Likely-Paralyzed Teen
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A young girl who was shot and paralyzed three months ago reached another big milestone on Friday.
Guadalupe Galeno Hernandez is finally able to move her head freely, after doctors removed the halo from her head and body.
The halo is actually an entire contraption that weighs about 8 pounds.
Guadalupe was shot during a drive by shooting in South Minneapolis last November. The bullet went through her spinal cord and a portion of that bullet is still lodged in there.
The halo stabilized Guadalupe's spinal cord and head during the healing process.
X-rays showed her fractures are healing well, so her doctor at Hennepin County Medical Center gave specialists the OK to take it off.
"I can like move my head now and everything, when they take it out," Guadalupe said before the procedure at HCMC. "It's gonna be good, so I can sleep good again."
Specialists, first, slowly removed the screws that keep the halo together. There are two rods in the front and two in the back, and they run down her chest and back. They attach to the oval portion at the top, which looks like a ring around Guadalupe's head.
The screws attach to Guadalupe's skull and each goes in about 3 millimeters, making it a painful process to remove them.
Once that main portion was removed, Guadalupe could move her head freely -- a moment she has been dreaming about. Guadalupe's mom said it was a moment she was excited for, too.
"She said when she gets her halo off, we're going to make her pretty again -- curls in her hair. Guadalupe wants her big earrings and her painted nails as well," said Gilda Galeno-Hernandez through a translator.
The physical pain slowly went away before Guadalupe left the hospital, but there's still emotion pain left behind.
Doctors say she has no spinal function and will likely never walk again. She'll continue to use her wheelchair to get around and work extensively with therapists on her speech and balance.
