Community wishes girl a speedy recovery
Trending
As Mia Curtin heads in today for her second major brain surgery this calendar year, her Dunkirk Intermediate School classmates have already shown their support.
The Dunkirk Intermediate School created and collected get well cards for Mia from her fellow Dunkirk students. Kim Texter, Dunkirk Intermediate School Principal, helped lead the efforts.
In addition, the Dunkirk community has also shown its support for Mia. Dunkirk Marauders Booster Club President Denise Zentz helped organize a Secret Santa fundraiser to help provide Christmas gifts for the family.
"I reached out to a bunch of my friends and said we needed to do a Secret Santa. Then, like everything does in this community because everyone is awesome, it went a little bit further and we were getting donations from everyone," Zentz said.
The community has also provided gift cards and donations to the Curtin family to assist throughout the coming weeks on her latest road to recovery.
Mia has received support from the community in many ways over the past two years. Her family was aided by a benefit at the Kosciuszko Club, as well as the recent holiday celebration with a special visit from Santa Claus. Mia also participated in the Memorial Day parade.
As a multi-sport athlete, Mia also got to stay a part of the games she loves by throwing out ceremonial first pitches at a Dunkirk Marauders playoff baseball game and the annual Mongy Memorial Wiffle Ball Tournament, as well as dropping the puck at the eighth annual Community Hockey Game at Northwest Arena in Jamestown. Hockey is Mia's favorite sport.
"We can't thank the community enough. ... It's been amazing," Mia's grandmother, Linda Curtin, said earlier this year. "It was all unexpected to us, every little thing that people had done. We never once asked for anything. They all came forward to us. ... We have a great community. We're very lucky."
Mia's condition, Rasmussen's Encephalitis, is a rare neurological condition found mostly in children under the age of 10. Mia, 9, was in the hospital for just over a month after her first major brain surgery earlier this past year.
Mia battled seizures leading up to her first major surgery, a right hemispherectomy, but the seizures subsided in the following months. In recent months, however, Mia has endured seizure-like activity that has led the consulting neurosurgeon to believe there is a missed connection in her brain.
Today's surgery is expected to be followed by seven to 10 days in the hospital, followed by a week at inpatient rehabilitation to evaluate the potential need for a shunt. Mia is likely to miss 6-8 weeks of school after the procedure.
After Mia triumphantly threw out the first pitch at a Dunkirk playoff baseball game earlier this past year following her first surgery, Dunkirk baseball coach Frank Jagoda said, "We just wish her the best. We just hope that everything works out for her and she will continue to work hard to get back to the things she loves."
Follow Motivation for Mia on Facebook for updates in the coming weeks.