One Family's Tragedy Becomes Another Family's Miracle

Mentor, Ohio, USA

The McCracken family of Mentor, OH was enjoying a friendly game of baseball in their yard last week when 7 year-old Morgan was accidentally hit with the ball. Her parents, Donald and Connie, put ice on their daughter's head to reduce the goose-egg swelling that immediately followed the injury. Within hours, the swelling was down and Morgan was back to her happy self. She went back to school the next day and aced a spelling test.

Two nights after the accident, like many of us, Donald and Connie saw the tragic news story of Natasha Richardson's sudden death from a seemingly minor head injury. The actress, mother, and wife had suffered a bump on the head, talked and joked about it with no apparent trouble, and, within days, died. The McCrackens were immediately worried for Morgan, who went to bed that night complaining of a headache. They decided to call their daughter's doctor, just to be safe.

"Because of Natasha, we called the pediatrician immediately. And by the time I got off the phone with him, Morgan was sobbing, her head hurt so much," reports Donald. The McCrackens rushed to the emergency room, where Morgan was given a CT scan to determine whether she had a brain injury. The scan confirmed her parents' worst fear: Morgan had an epidural hematoma, just like Natasha Richardson.

Unlike Natasha, however, Morgan made it to the emergency room in time. She was air lifted to a hospital in Cleveland for immediate treatment. "I knew it was bad when she had to get there by helicopter in six minutes, instead of the 30 minutes it would have taken to get to Cleveland in an ambulance," said her father.

Morgan received life-saving surgery that night, and, after five more days in the hospital, she returned home. And this time, she really IS fine. It was a very close call; According to Donald McCracken, "Dr. Cohen told us that if we hadn't brought her in Thursday night, she never would have woken up."

In the wake of Natasha Richardson's heartbreaking story, there is some comfort in knowing that a child's life was saved as a result. And for the McCracken family, it is more than comforting; it is miraculous.

For more on this story, and for tips on recognizing serious head injury symptoms, visit http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/26/head.injury.emergency/index.html