Paralyzed Boy Captures Hearts Of Many

[Max]

Paralyzed Boy Captures Hearts Of Many
POSTED: 8:56 a.m. EDT June 11, 2003
UPDATED: 11:01 a.m. EDT June 11, 2003



MIAMI -- Almost one year after he suffered a spinal cord injury, 3-year-old Chong Lee Wongden, better known as Chucho, is ready to go home from the hospital.

Chucho suffered the injury when he tripped while dancing to his favorite song, hyperextending his neck and causing permanent damage to his spinal cord.


Disabled Boy Needs Your Help



He has no movement from the shoulders down and he needs a respirator to help him breathe. Although Chucho is going home, doctors say he will need nursing care 24 hours a day, including extensive physical and speech therapy.

Despite his disability, Chucho's personality has won the hearts of all those around him.

The Guardian Angels, a volunteer group at Jackson Memorial Hospital, has set up a fund in his name to help pay for his care.

"We have fallen in love with this little boy," said one of the volunteers. "He has an incredible personality. He has so much potential. There is so much that he can do. He deserves a chance in life."

If you are interested in making a contribution to Chucho's Fund, you can call (305) 585-5888, or you mail a donation to Jackson Memorial Foundation, 901 N.W. 17th St., Suite G, Miami, FL 33136.
Copyright 2003 by NBC6.net. All rights reserved.


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[Max]

Paralyzed boy gets a rousing send-off from his rehab unit
BY TRENTON DANIEL
tdaniel@herald.com




HIS DAY: Chong Lee 'Chucho' Wongden, 3, was feted Tuesday at Jackson Memorial Hospital. C.W. GRIFFIN/HERALD STAFF


For at least a couple of hours on Tuesday, Chong Lee ''Chucho'' Wongden got to feel like a king.

The 3-year-old held court at the end of a long table while a few doting women hand fed him icing-rich white cake. The crown on his pint-size head was a yellow plastic visor.

But injecting a sobering dose of reality to this regal tableau: His throne was an electric wheelchair.

Chucho's grandmother and friends gathered at Jackson Memorial's Holtz Children's Hospital to celebrate the quadriplegic boy's bittersweet send-off today from a rehabilitation unit following nine months of treatment.

TRAGIC TURN

Last year, Chucho's childhood world took a life-altering turn. In July, the boy was dancing at his Opa-locka home when he slipped and fell, hitting his chin on the tile floor. The fall caused his neck to stretch his spinal cord, leaving him a quadriplegic.

Since he was released from a pediatric intensive care unit at Jackson and moved to Holtz, Chucho has wooed nurses and women volunteers from a hospital support group called the Guardian Angels.

On Tuesday Chucho was in a bit of a grumpy mood -- he was entitled to it, after all -- but, ultimately, that didn't seem to matter.

Ricardo Smith, a 15-year-old Little Haiti resident who broke his leg in a motorcycle accident, said he cared for his floor mate ``like a little brother.''

Hospital officials announced that a fund would be established in the boy's name to help him and his grandmother Sonia Teran, a hotel laundry manager who is also Chucho's caretaker. The funds will be used to help the two move closer to the hospital's Mailman Center, where Chucho will continue receiving treatment.

`COME A LONG WAY'

''I wish it would never have happened,'' said Smith. ``He's come a long way.''

Indeed, he has, even if the prognosis doesn't bode well, his physician said.

''Well, it's not good, without some kind of breakthrough,'' Dr. John W. Kuluz said. ``There's very little chance -- almost no chance -- that he will ever walk again.''

Still, Chucho today will leave Holtz. And his immediate goal is to paint.

Paint what?

''My bedroom,'' he whispered, with a ventilator up to his neck. ``Yeah. All by myself.''



http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/6059449.htm