Hurley family shares experience with Children’s Miracle Network
November 22, 2023
Photo and Story by AJ Fahr, [email protected]
Weston Flood, who is diagnosed with Chiari Malformation, Apraxia, and a seizure disorder has received assistance for speech therapy through Children’s Miracle Network since the age of three.
Katrina Flood came into the Stone County Republican Office last week to talk about her son Weston, age 7, and how the Children’s Miracle Network has made a difference in his life and the life of their family.
“Weston was born full term, no complications during pregnancy. Everything we thought was normal and fine,” Flood shared. “Then as he continued to develop and grow, all of his little milestones, he met everything, but speech. Speech was always a little delayed. So we did some investigation. Weston began having seizures and so he had to have MRIs, CTs, different things like that. We found he had Chiari Malformation and a seizure disorder, so as we were going through all of this, then we realized he had apraxia as well, which is part of the speech delay. His brain and his mouth weren’t working together. His brain wasn’t able to send the signals to his mouth to move the muscles to make the correct sounds.”
Flood said after the diagnosis a few months before Weston turned three, he began his journey with a therapist to help him to be able to learn to communicate verbally.
“He started therapy at 33 months old and is still doing it today,” Flood said. “We’ve made huge milestones and I actually talked to his therapist today, so I could give you some data. Whenever he started therapy, he only had a vocabulary of five to ten intelligible words, and he was almost three years old. He was three months shy of his third birthday, so he had a lot of delay there. Now his two syllable words are at 85 and with a 90% accuracy. His three syllable words are 81 to 86. He does still have some final consonant concerns and he’s at about a 60 to 70% level with those. He gets therapy through the Meyer Orthopedic Center in Springfield. He’s had the same therapist since he was almost three. He also does therapy at the school where he attends in Hurley, as well.”
Flood said when the family received the initial diagnosis for Weston they found their insurance did not cover the therapy he would need and that is when they reached out to the Children’s Miracle Network.
“My insurance, I work for Coxhealth, does not cover therapy services unless it’s been a traumatic brain injury or like a car accident or something of that nature, or a stroke,” Flood said. “But the Meyer Center hooked us up with the Children’s Miracle Network immediately after he went through his evaluation. They told me the financial situation I was going to be in because it’s very, very expensive, in the hundreds, every time we go for his therapy, So we filled out the paperwork. You know, I wasn’t really sure what that would look like, but it’s an easy process to fill out the paperwork. Then Cassie, with the Children’s Miracle Network, has been great. I’ve dealt with her since day one. And she’s been great. She’s always notified me, ‘Hey, Katrina, it’s time to update paperwork. This is what I need’. The cost for the therapy is taken care of by the Children’s Miracle Network.”
Flood said being able to get her son the help he needs without having to fear the “what if I can’t afford this” has put her mind at ease.
“I think a lot of people don’t realize all of the different aspects that they (the Children’s Miracle Network) help with. They think it’s one specific thing. Most people wouldn’t think speech therapy would be what they would help with,” Flood said. “With that being said, like the financial aspect of having a child that’s sick, or that needs therapy, or that needs extra help, is daunting.
“There’s no way we could have done it without them. I mean, because really, it’s like three to $400 every time we set foot in that door for a 30 minute session. There is absolutely no way that we would have ever been able to have done it. Weston, like I mentioned before, he has apraxia, he has Chiari Malformation, he has seizures, so we have to make a trip to St. Louis about every six months to a year to see his neurologist up there. They help with the hotel expenses, they help with a fuel voucher. There’s different avenues as far as that goes that they help with as well.
“It’s so great that there’s a place…an organization that can help him like this. Because the financial impact hits way more people than just, you know, when you have a sick child. When you have a child who needs help with anything, you just want to do whatever you can physically and possibly do so. This organization helps us to lessen the stress.”
Flood said when she was younger she would watch the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon and she would always give a little.
“When I was a kid, I would watch the telethon and just sit there and cry because of all of the stories I know,” Flood said. “Now my son and my family have a need and are one of the families with stories.”
Flood said every little bit helps when families are struggling to be able to afford care for their children.
“You know, people come home every evening and they throw their pocket change down and it gets scooped up and whatever they do with it,” Flood said. “I mean, it’s just as easy as sticking a jar in the corner and throwing that pocket change in there, then you’d be surprised what adds up to give during Miracle Week.”
With the help of the Children’s Miracle Network and the speech therapist, Weston has had consistently since he was three, Flood said her son is able to communicate with the world around him.
“It’s been nice that we’ve had Miss Debbie (Weston’s therapist). It’s been nice that we’ve had the same therapist for the duration,” Flood said. “He is finally making strides. That took a while. I probably started noticing it at about age five. It’s like something just kind of clicked. Yeah. And he began making a lot of progress after he turned five. He was in school too, so he actually was able to get services there as well. But I just think at five you know, there was a little bit of maturity level that increased and so things just began to click a little bit better. He’s a Spitfire and is very energetic. Everybody’s always asking if he is always this energetic. Because he’s 100 miles an hour constantly from the time he wakes up from the time he goes to bed. He’s very loving. He’s very caring, but he does have a little bit of a temper, he’s a redhead.
“I hope someday that I can pay the favor forward. I used to give to the Children’s Miracle Network whenever my girls were younger, they didn’t have special needs or anything of that nature. Then life took a turn and I’m a single mom now and so it’s not as much that I can give, but I do feel like every little bit helps no matter what you can give so it makes a difference.”
The Stone County Republican/Crane Chronicle, Stone County Shopper, Branson This Week and Barry County Advertiser, who are all owned by the Branson Tri-Lakes News, are partnering with the Children’s Miracle Network as media sponsors to provide support for the organization’s upcoming Miracle Week Telethon.
The telethon benefits Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds and awareness for the medical care of children from birth through the age of 18. The telethon will take place from Monday, Nov. 27, through Sunday, Dec. 3. It will air on KY3, KSPR and Ozarks CW during various newscasts throughout the week.
Viewers will have an opportunity to learn about the families impacted by Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and will have the option to support the organization by calling in pledges to a 24 hour phone bank through the week.
The organization provides a variety of services and programs which address the medical needs of children within a 32 county area of Southwest Missouri and North Central Arkansas. Some of the services include assistance with medical bills, travel and lodging for appointments, medical equipment, and a mobile health clinic which visits rural schools. CMNH also funds the purchase of pediatric equipment and supplies for various departments within the CoxHealth system, and safety education programs through the Trauma Services Department.
For more information about the Children’s Miracle Network and its work in the Ozarks, visit www.coxhealthcmn.com.
“Weston was born full term, no complications during pregnancy. Everything we thought was normal and fine,” Flood shared. “Then as he continued to develop and grow, all of his little milestones, he met everything, but speech. Speech was always a little delayed. So we did some investigation. Weston began having seizures and so he had to have MRIs, CTs, different things like that. We found he had Chiari Malformation and a seizure disorder, so as we were going through all of this, then we realized he had apraxia as well, which is part of the speech delay. His brain and his mouth weren’t working together. His brain wasn’t able to send the signals to his mouth to move the muscles to make the correct sounds.”
Flood said after the diagnosis a few months before Weston turned three, he began his journey with a therapist to help him to be able to learn to communicate verbally.
“He started therapy at 33 months old and is still doing it today,” Flood said. “We’ve made huge milestones and I actually talked to his therapist today, so I could give you some data. Whenever he started therapy, he only had a vocabulary of five to ten intelligible words, and he was almost three years old. He was three months shy of his third birthday, so he had a lot of delay there. Now his two syllable words are at 85 and with a 90% accuracy. His three syllable words are 81 to 86. He does still have some final consonant concerns and he’s at about a 60 to 70% level with those. He gets therapy through the Meyer Orthopedic Center in Springfield. He’s had the same therapist since he was almost three. He also does therapy at the school where he attends in Hurley, as well.”
Flood said when the family received the initial diagnosis for Weston they found their insurance did not cover the therapy he would need and that is when they reached out to the Children’s Miracle Network.
“My insurance, I work for Coxhealth, does not cover therapy services unless it’s been a traumatic brain injury or like a car accident or something of that nature, or a stroke,” Flood said. “But the Meyer Center hooked us up with the Children’s Miracle Network immediately after he went through his evaluation. They told me the financial situation I was going to be in because it’s very, very expensive, in the hundreds, every time we go for his therapy, So we filled out the paperwork. You know, I wasn’t really sure what that would look like, but it’s an easy process to fill out the paperwork. Then Cassie, with the Children’s Miracle Network, has been great. I’ve dealt with her since day one. And she’s been great. She’s always notified me, ‘Hey, Katrina, it’s time to update paperwork. This is what I need’. The cost for the therapy is taken care of by the Children’s Miracle Network.”
Flood said being able to get her son the help he needs without having to fear the “what if I can’t afford this” has put her mind at ease.
“I think a lot of people don’t realize all of the different aspects that they (the Children’s Miracle Network) help with. They think it’s one specific thing. Most people wouldn’t think speech therapy would be what they would help with,” Flood said. “With that being said, like the financial aspect of having a child that’s sick, or that needs therapy, or that needs extra help, is daunting.
“There’s no way we could have done it without them. I mean, because really, it’s like three to $400 every time we set foot in that door for a 30 minute session. There is absolutely no way that we would have ever been able to have done it. Weston, like I mentioned before, he has apraxia, he has Chiari Malformation, he has seizures, so we have to make a trip to St. Louis about every six months to a year to see his neurologist up there. They help with the hotel expenses, they help with a fuel voucher. There’s different avenues as far as that goes that they help with as well.
“It’s so great that there’s a place…an organization that can help him like this. Because the financial impact hits way more people than just, you know, when you have a sick child. When you have a child who needs help with anything, you just want to do whatever you can physically and possibly do so. This organization helps us to lessen the stress.”
Flood said when she was younger she would watch the Children’s Miracle Network Telethon and she would always give a little.
“When I was a kid, I would watch the telethon and just sit there and cry because of all of the stories I know,” Flood said. “Now my son and my family have a need and are one of the families with stories.”
Flood said every little bit helps when families are struggling to be able to afford care for their children.
“You know, people come home every evening and they throw their pocket change down and it gets scooped up and whatever they do with it,” Flood said. “I mean, it’s just as easy as sticking a jar in the corner and throwing that pocket change in there, then you’d be surprised what adds up to give during Miracle Week.”
With the help of the Children’s Miracle Network and the speech therapist, Weston has had consistently since he was three, Flood said her son is able to communicate with the world around him.
“It’s been nice that we’ve had Miss Debbie (Weston’s therapist). It’s been nice that we’ve had the same therapist for the duration,” Flood said. “He is finally making strides. That took a while. I probably started noticing it at about age five. It’s like something just kind of clicked. Yeah. And he began making a lot of progress after he turned five. He was in school too, so he actually was able to get services there as well. But I just think at five you know, there was a little bit of maturity level that increased and so things just began to click a little bit better. He’s a Spitfire and is very energetic. Everybody’s always asking if he is always this energetic. Because he’s 100 miles an hour constantly from the time he wakes up from the time he goes to bed. He’s very loving. He’s very caring, but he does have a little bit of a temper, he’s a redhead.
“I hope someday that I can pay the favor forward. I used to give to the Children’s Miracle Network whenever my girls were younger, they didn’t have special needs or anything of that nature. Then life took a turn and I’m a single mom now and so it’s not as much that I can give, but I do feel like every little bit helps no matter what you can give so it makes a difference.”
The Stone County Republican/Crane Chronicle, Stone County Shopper, Branson This Week and Barry County Advertiser, who are all owned by the Branson Tri-Lakes News, are partnering with the Children’s Miracle Network as media sponsors to provide support for the organization’s upcoming Miracle Week Telethon.
The telethon benefits Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising funds and awareness for the medical care of children from birth through the age of 18. The telethon will take place from Monday, Nov. 27, through Sunday, Dec. 3. It will air on KY3, KSPR and Ozarks CW during various newscasts throughout the week.
Viewers will have an opportunity to learn about the families impacted by Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and will have the option to support the organization by calling in pledges to a 24 hour phone bank through the week.
The organization provides a variety of services and programs which address the medical needs of children within a 32 county area of Southwest Missouri and North Central Arkansas. Some of the services include assistance with medical bills, travel and lodging for appointments, medical equipment, and a mobile health clinic which visits rural schools. CMNH also funds the purchase of pediatric equipment and supplies for various departments within the CoxHealth system, and safety education programs through the Trauma Services Department.
For more information about the Children’s Miracle Network and its work in the Ozarks, visit www.coxhealthcmn.com.
