May 7, 2008, BY MITCH SHERMAN, WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
Lincoln
The morning of April 3 began like most for Brandon and Tiffany Verzal.
Something about that day, though, felt special.
The Verzals, former Nebraskans working in the Texas A&M athletic department, enjoyed extra time at breakfast.
They sang and laughed on the drive to drop their daughter, 14-month-old Alexis, at her day care in College Station, Texas. Alexis displayed her smile and vibrant personality more than ever.
“It wasn’t just that normal smile,” said Tiffany, 28, of Cozad, Neb. “There was something else there. She was just digging into my eyes.”
Now, not five weeks later, Brandon and Tiffany sleep every night on the floor next to Alexis’ crib at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln. Alexis’ vision and speech have not returned since that morning.
Doctors and Texas law enforcement believe Alexis’ injuries were not accidental, consistent with shaken baby syndrome. She may have been thrown, her parents say.
“It’s hard to swallow the fact that it wasn’t an accident,” Tiffany said. “Things like that don’t make sense. If it’s a car crash, those things happen. But we’re so focused on getting her better that we’ll go several days without talking about that part of it.”
Alexis’ story underscores a connection between two rival athletic departments. The Verzals, who work in the A&M video production equivalent of Nebraska’s HuskerVision, are two of 18 former University of Nebraska athletic department employees who have left since December 2003 to work for the Aggies.
Paths cross again this weekend when Nebraska and Texas A&M meet in Lincoln with the Big 12 baseball crown at stake.
Brandon, a 31-year-old Millard South graduate, got to know NU baseball coach Mike Anderson when Verzal worked as a student for HuskerVision. Anderson visited the Verzals last week.
“What I saw is that they’re OK,” Anderson said. “They’re bunkered down with Alexis, and that’s it. That’s their entire focus right now. That’s extremely impressive to me. Everything stops to take care of her.”
Alexis, before her April 28 transfer to Lincoln, spent 25 days at Scott & White Hospital in Temple, Texas. She was treated for eye and brain hemorrhages from an incident that occurred at the home of her day care provider.
The woman with 20 years of experience had come highly recommended from A&M athletic staffers who entrusted her with their children.
“We were the parents who checked 30 day cares,” Tiffany said. “We were those parents, and this still happened.”
Brazos County Sheriff Chris Kirk confirmed Tuesday that his department is investigating and that evidence soon will be forwarded to the district attorney before the matter goes before a grand jury. The day care provider, who was unlicensed, no longer operates.
The Verzals selected the Lincoln facility because of Madonna’s extensive brain injury program and its proximity to their families. Tiffany’s parents remain in Cozad, and Brandon’s parents live in Omaha. The couple said they might never feel comfortable again leaving their daughter in the care of anyone other than her grandparents.
The Verzals are scheduled to remain at Madonna for three to five weeks more. After that, they’re not sure of much at all.
Alexis faces months, if not years, of rehabilitation. Even then, her prognosis remains unclear. Before the injury, Alexis was running around their home and saying many words. Her physical movement today compares to a 3-month-old.
But she has made vast progress in the first four weeks. Brandon and Tiffany couldn’t touch their daughter in the days after her life-threatening injury. They couldn’t speak near her. Even the slightest stimulation would elevate Alexis’ brain pressure to dangerous levels.
She had tubes on top of tubes flowing into her body. A ventilator kept her breathing. Heavy doses of pain medication were necessary.
Alexis remains on mild medication as she undergoes multiple daily therapy sessions in Lincoln. Every day is tough, but some are worse as she regains awareness of her surroundings and fights the unpredictable effects of a brain injury.
“It’s very possible that in two years or three months or 10 years that we may look at her and never know there was anything wrong,” Tiffany said. “Then it’s also possible she may be blind, in a wheelchair and not able to communicate with us for the rest of her life.”
The uncertainty, they say, is the hardest part.
“She’s in there,” Brandon said. “Her full personality and spirit is in there.”
Brandon works as director of A&M’s 12th Man Productions. Tiffany, who met Brandon during their time as student aides in the NU athletic department, helps manage his staff in College Station.
They were married in 2002 as Brandon worked for the Seattle Mariners after a stint with the Kansas City Royals and before the Verzals followed Athletic Director Bill Byrne and former HuskerVision boss Jeff Schmahl to A&M.
The Verzals plan to devote a portion of their lives toward education on shaken baby syndrome and pediatric brain trauma.
“We’re going to do everything we can to try to prevent this from happening to another family,” Brandon said. “Our talents are in video and marketing and design. We’ll use them in every way we can. It’s going to be a vital part of our lives.”
Their room at Madonna overflows with gifts, packages and messages of hope — some from total strangers, many who encountered similar ordeals.
At Texas A&M, women’s soccer coach G. Guerrieri established a foundation to support Alexis. Byrne and his wife, Marilyn, made a donation on her behalf to the Ronald McDonald House.
Todd Caspary, a friend of the father of A&M equestrian administrator Katie Cahill, provided a plane and two pilots to fly Alexis and her parents last week from Texas to Nebraska. Longtime Aggie football trainer and administrator Billy Pickard grew “furious,” according to Brandon, that he could not donate some of his 500-plus days of accumulated vacation for the Verzals to use.
A&M baseball coach Rob Childress and his wife, Amanda, maintain close contact.
“We’ve all got jobs to do,” Childress said, “but when something this tragic happens, it makes you stop and realize what’s truly important. It’s family.”
Brandon and Tiffany established a profile for Alexis on www.carepages.com, an online community for those coping with illness and injury, to update supporters of her progress.
Their Web page has received some 30,000 hits from approximately 1,600 registered visitors.
“People are coming out of nowhere,” Tiffany said.
Alexis’ parents have always believed she was meant to help people. For her first birthday in February, they told people Alexis had plenty of toys and asked friends and family members to give $5 or $10.
Brandon and Tiffany donated the money to “Nothing But Nets,” an organization to prevent the spread of malaria among children in Africa.
Every year, it’s to be a new charity.
“We never wanted to put pressure on her to be a volleyball player, to play piano,” Tiffany said. “We wanted her to have a great spirit and to help people.
“Now, I feel like she is an inspiration. She is a witness, and she’s a miracle by virtue of even being alive.”
Tags: abuse, day care provider, Lincoln, pediatric brain trama, shaken baby syndrome, unlicensed
