Lola blijft!

Hello everyone,

I am Lola, a 15-year-old  girl scout (Chiro) who was hit by a car, driven by a 85 year old man on August 1st 2018, on our two-day trekking in the Netherlands. I was taken to Nijmegen by trauma helicopter where neurosurgeons performed surgery on my cervical vertebrae. On August 10 I was transferred to Gasthuisberg in Leuven, Belgium. I'm treated in the children's department of the Intensive Care Unit. For the time being, I can only communicate with my eyes. My parents can use some financial support to cover several extra costs due to my trauma.

I made a ‘piggy bank’ with ‘Kadonation’ to make things a little easier. You can contribute directly and safely via your bank card by clicking on ‘contributions’. You can choose whether your contribution is visible to others or not. That way everyone can easily contribute!

The payments always take place via a secure connection.

Thank you for your contribution! To all dear people who not only support me but also leave messages...: unfortunately we cannot post any replies on the Kadonation site. However, they make me REALLY happy because everyday my Mama or Dad reads them to me ...

Lola D.

Lola Depypere

Secured: Lola keeps on fighting

“Lola Pluis”

On August 1 2018 our dear Lola (15y) left for a two-day ‘trekking’ to the annual bivouac of Chiro Roosbeek, this year right across the border in the Netherlands. She had been looking forward to this so hard, to have lots of fun, as usual, with her friends at camp. This would be the third bivouac for our beautiful girl. Afterwards, we would immediately leave on holiday with our family, to Australia. A dream trip for her.

That evening, Lola walked together with fifteen young people (thirteen girl friends, two boys and their three Chiro supervisors) along the side of a road in Bergeijk, when around 8:45 pm she was grabbed and catapulted by a car.

One of her supervisors, Ruben, immediately started Lola’s reanimation and saved her life. A real hero – our hero. And Lola’s.

This horrible news only reached us at 11:20 pm via two police officers from the Lubbeek police zone. Our good friend Ken took us instantly to a university hospital in Nijmegen, where Lola had been brought to by the trauma helicopter. Other friends, Els & Pieter, had followed us immediately to Nijmegen to assist us. They rock big time.

Lola had suffered such a hard slap that the upper cervical vertebra ‘atlas’ had experienced a dangerous displacement.
 
 This was immediately improved by the emergency doctors, they positioned Lola’s head better and fixed her an orthopaedic ‘halo vest’.

We were allowed to see her for the first time around 3 o'clock in the night. I can assure you that it is very hard to swallow if you see your child lying with pins in her head. Very oppressive. Heart-breaking.

August 2.
 Lola has been in the children's ward of the 'high care' unit of this hospital since. She is in the professional hands of a very dedicated team of Dutch nurses, neurosurgeons, orthopaedic doctors and rehabilitation specialists. I am probably forgetting some others. In the evening, they started the tube feeding. My wife Leda and I stay overnight with Lola for the time being. Every other night one of us, together with Lola's brother Pablo (12 years old), goes to sleep in a so-called Ronald McDonald House of the children's fund with the same name. This Dutch foundation has houses, near hospitals, in which family of patients can temporarily stay.

A nightmare. That is our predominant feeling: surreal. Powerless. Our ever sweet, smart, cool and sporty girl has never earned this. Her dreams are destroyed, our lives are changed forever. Not fair. All three of us are so sad but we have to stay strong for both Lola and Pablo. Lola is a fighter and they already noticed that here. We cannot forget Pablo. In one blow, he lost his sister and his partner in crime towards the world, towards us. We give him even more support and love. From the beginning of his arrival here in the hospital Pablo was surrounded by two pedagogues. They do not only focus on the welfare of Lola, but also of her brother’s.

August 3.

This morning there was a first bright spot. She opened her eyes very slightly and looked at us when we talked to her. Consciously. Her brain functions because she recognizes our voices! Furthermore, the neurosurgeon and a whole bunch of doctors have been here for tests and the update is that "it is a good sign that she is coming to the surface bit by bit. We are very happy about this. The movements she makes with - especially - her legs are still more reflexive but also pretty good!”. In the course of next week they would plan a surgery to fix her upper vertebra back to her little skull.

They also performed 2 CT scans of her today. The second time right after they tried to improve once more the position of her head towards her neck vertebrae and indeed, "now everything is better in place and the spinal cord gets more room to heal, being less squeezed".

On Monday the surgeons plan a surgery of approx. 4 hours to fix everything permanently.

Lola is trying to swallow a tiny bit since today. Of course she suffers from excessive saliva with the tube of the breathing apparatus constantly in her mouth.

A rehabilitation physician also started with exercises to keep her joints and muscles of the arms and legs supple. She showed us how we can do this several times a day: very nice to have physical contact with Lola and to help her in the meantime. Her legs and feet are in such a position that her Achilles tendons do not become too short. The mattress is also slightly shorter at the foot end to prevent her from getting bedsores.

Today we also had the visit from Ruben, Lola's supervisor and her first-hour hero. He is still with Lola’s thirteen girl friends and two boys at camp. Heavily affected, he tells his story and brings us beautiful letters from Lola's group. Mama Leda reads them to Lola one by one. The hats they all signed now decorates the foot of Lola's sickbed.

August 4.

Lola had a quiet night. She is regularly given remifentanil (via infusion) to combat the severe pain. When they reduce the dose to do tests, you can clearly see from her face that she is fighting the pain. Then you feel powerless.

Our friend Els had this bracelet from her trip to Sri Lanka. On her first visit to Lola she thought: "This lucky charm gets a better place on Lola's bed!". When Lola's pain medication is reduced, she becomes more awake and reacts more strongly. Good girl! The nurse then asks if she can open her eyes or she helps her to do so. Then they shine with a small light in her beautiful eyes to see if the pupils narrow. And they do!

August 5.

Our 18th wedding anniversary. How can we possibly celebrate it?! Lola has had a quiet night. For a moment she had severe pain but the nurses gave her more medication. This morning, Lola responded positively to pupil control without having to lower her painkiller dose. The nurse asked "Lola can you open your eyes?" And she did. Then the nurse said: "Your Mama is also standing next to you ..." and then she spontaneously looked at Leda. Go girl !! Motorically nothing has changed.

Today the visit day at the Chiro camp was planned. I hope that the young people and their supervisors can still spend a nice day. We would have loved to be there.

For our dear, courageous daughter who is not only my girl but also my best friend. Your mum.

If you really love someone
 If you confide everything to someone
 One who knows who you really are
 and also knows your weak spots
 Who assists you and forgives you
 Who lives ‘next to’ and ‘in’ you
 Only then you feel what life is about
 and you feel that love means ‘giving’.

Toon Hermans (free translation of his poem)

Several times a day the waking nurse lowers the dose of remifentanil and then she wakes up within 10’. She does this to check the pupil reflex and motor skills with a doctor. Lola really starts looking around better. Hopeful! You can see that she answers our questions - whether she is in pain or whether she likes to hear Leda reading a letter from Marge or something of that kind – by closing her eyes. This afternoon we noticed that she started to act frustrated or angry because we talked to her about why she is lying there and what happened. Then you realize that she is aware of more things than we suspect, I think. I hope. We do not do this all the time because we want to surround her in the first place with sweet words, hugs and love. A pedagogue told us that these patients prefer not to be caressed. When we saw that she was in pain, nurse Carly gave her good painkillers again. Then Lola is "scoring" again, the nurses say. All very intense. This afternoon we met the neurosurgeon Bartels. He will lead the surgery tomorrow and together with his assistant, 2 operating room members and 3 anaesthetists he will repair Lola’s neck trauma. Risks are involved. One of the 4 carotid arteries can be hit during the surgery, but they can stem it. And if everything goes well, infections can occur due to the cut wounds. There is already nerve damage, but it is too soon to draw conclusions, says Prof. dr. Bartels.

Tonight around 9:30 pm she got a final check before bedtime and then I noticed that she opened her eyes the most so far. Impressive! What a go-getter. Go Lola. Sleep tight, big star!

 August 6.

The fifth night after the Fatal accident. 6 o'clock in the morning. Little Lola had a quiet night. Nurse Gerd has sucked some excessive mucus from her nose and saliva from her mouth a few times. The normal course of events of the past days. At 4 am her feeding tube was stopped to have her sober for the surgery. Lola therefore receives an extra moisturizing infusion. The surgery would be scheduled from 8 o'clock. All depending on other urgent cases that might come in. They will then have priority. But today it would happen in any case, to be able to start Lola's rehabilitation as soon as possible. For the time being, no doctors here. I did not sleep a single minute due to the stress. Go Lola !!!

8:05 am. Just got the confirmation from nurse Wilfried. Within 10-15 minutes she goes to the operating room. Keep the faith.

At 8:45 am, Lola was taken to the operating room by 3 anaesthetists. We were able to follow her in the general corridor of the intensive care unit until halfway, they suddenly they went to the right into a corridor. "Would you like to give her another kiss?" We gave her a sweet kiss on her forehead and she left with an elevator.

 The following completely contradicts my opinion towards the sensation press etcetera, but I felt that it was necessary to respond the (non-intrusive) question of journalist Kristof Aerts of ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’ (Belgian newspaper) to rectify a number of things regarding incorrect reporting about Lola. Lola is not out of danger. I did request access to the article before publication in this newspaper and ‘Het Nieuwsblad’ (other Belgian newspaper). I explicitly asked them to shorten our family name. We answered negatively to Kristof Aerts' request to add a recent photo of Lola to the article. "Shame about the photo, but I understand. Can I make one more suggestion: we could also make Lola unrecognizable. That way we have a photo and the article gets more attention and on the other hand her privacy is guaranteed. Would you like to consider that? "Out of respect for Lola, we refused, even though I know that our Lola, such a proud and handsome girl would look good in the newspaper, but her privacy prevails. Today this appeared:

https://www.hln.be/regio/boutersem/-leider-heeft-lola-s-leven-gered~a56a66b0/

Gnawing silence.

At 12:38 pm, another "No caller ID" call on Leda’s phone. She hands the mobile to me. Persistent. Fear of bad news. We could do with some good news for Lola Pluis. For us. Professor Bartels on the phone: "We have just finished the surgery. Her head is re-attached to the vertebra - no extra damage, no complications. Everything worked out well as we wanted to do it. Perfect. Now the rehabilitation can start! “I answer him:" Thank you very much! You are a hero. Lola's hero. Our hero". Professor Bartels: "You’re welcome. It is our job. "

(Lola is now in recovery)

Just before 3:00 pm Lola was returned to her hospital room in intensive care. Contrary to what her neurosurgeon previously provided, she no longer wears the halo vest. It makes everything much more human and less Frankenstein-ish. After a while Lola is quietly starting to wake up and they lower her painkiller dose to test her reflexes. Everything seems OK like the days before. Better still, Lola starts to look around a bit better. The motor skills and reflexes indicate a status quo.

The nurse in the background is Carly. She took care for Lola a lot during the past few days. A top nurse! She says that Lola really is a strong girl.

The evening service nurse, Mirjam, suggested to Leda to come in bed with Lola for some hugging. No need to say it twice to Leda. Quality time. Finally.

We also taught Lola a communication trick: close your eyes once = “no” and close your eyes twice = “yes”. She does this without any problem. We are communicating with her!!!

August 7.

Leda stayed overnight on a folding bed next to Lola's bed. She did not want to leave her side.
 Leda: "She did not have a very quiet. She has a fever: 40 degrees. Maybe they should cool her differently, but then they have to put her to sleep deeper again. It is all so difficult now. Our poor girl, just went happy and healthy to the Chiro. Why this ???! "

This is now hanging on Lola's door. The nurses said this to be an important turning point. You can see how Lola is thinking. Thinking very consciously. They do not know to what extent she understands everything or how much she can hear, but usually these patients catch up a lot. From now on, explanation of doctors is done outside her room. Afterwards, we or the nurse will take the news to Lola. Aunt Claudia also brought Lola's cell phone from our home. Yes indeed, Lola had left her cell phone at home for this bivouac. Good! She wanted to focus on this camp and her friends. Luckily Pablo had the code for her mobile phone ... Since a few days, we have also started playing her music in the room. And since we now have her mobile phone, we play her favourite Spotify list. She blinks with her eyes if she wants music or not. Music had always been a VERY important part of her life. Like any adolescent, right.

9:30 am. They start preparing Lola for taking X-rays in the radiography department, 3 floors below and a number of long corridors away. Quite a distance. It is actually a major undertaking to transfer all equipment to mobile devices. We just got back in the room when it turned out that the neurosurgeon needed another CT scan. Everything was just installed again. The staff reacts very smoothly and performs all those transfer tasks without any grumbling. We are now waiting downstairs while they take a CT scan.

The paediatrician Louis, - the "ancien" here - told me that they had made 2 CT scans for the neurosurgeon: one of her head and one of her neck. We will have a discussion with the neurosurgeons within about ten minutes.

When I look at the photo taken on the morning when she left on the two-day trip with the Chiro, and actually the very last photo when she was standing healthy in front of us, it makes me sooooo sad. She is such a proud girl. Always cheerful, helpful, polite and never shy to tell amusing things. So full of life. Sporty. Sparkling. I hope I can see Lola like that again. I want to give my arm for it. Even my life !!!! For our daughter to be able to live her dreams again, healthy. I have already lived a good life. She can have it all.

The conversation with the assistant neurosurgeon and the intensive care doctor took place in a family room. They made it clear that the surgery was indeed successful. Five cervical vertebrae were attached to each other and fixed to Lola's skull. This will make her 'yes' and 'no' movements difficult, if not prevent them.

Tonight she will get melatomine for a better night's sleep and she will receive a neuropathic pain softener, specifically for people with her injuries. The remifentanil will eventually be phased out so that she can function more consciously.

5: 53 pm. Leda just got back in bed with her. Cuddling, chatting. Quality time. Still enjoying each other a bit. Lola continues to have a 40 degrees fever. Another intensive care physician just came by with her assistant to examine her lungs. They suspect that Lola is having a fever because she might have pneumonia. What more? Photos (X-rays) will be made in the room.

 Hi, I’m Lola, I can hear everything and I understand you, so just ask.
 1 blink of the eye = no
 1 blinks = yes
 Give me some time, I might be a little tired or somewhat slower.

9:57 pm
 The fever has now dropped to 38.3 degrees. The doctors examined whether she had a bladder infection or a lung infection (pneumonia). This was just excluded. They will continue their search tomorrow. Strong Lola has fallen asleep at last. Heartbeat is still reasonably high but has already dropped to about 127. Over the past few nights she slept at 103-105. Rest well big star! Tomorrow is a new day.

August 8.
 7:50 am. Lola is still asleep. She had a quiet night, besides the routine of sucking saliva and mucus. At 03:30 they gave her extra fentanyl and since she has slept very well. I woke up several times because of many alarms in intensive care. Many babies entered.

8:10 am. Lola is quietly awakening. She answers positively with her eyes if I can play her Spotify playlist 'My Songsss'. I put her cell phone near her head and hoppa. She enjoys. While she has 39.4 degrees of fever.
 
 Yesterday was actually a very tough day. She was suffering and gradually lost all the energy during the day. This morning she had just that little bit of strength to communicate with us, but the rest of the day was a recovery day. Luckily, the doctors had understood this. Nurse Carly had suggested this to the rest of the staff. Every doctor, therapist, surgeon and whatever else wants to check his specialty on Lola and for the umpteenth time to communicate with her and that is clearly too much for our girl. Just a chill day. And if you ask us, many can follow. After such a heavy surgery, the only thing you should do is rest, right?

11:00 am  My contact person from the police Oost-Brabant in the Netherlands - the region where the accident occurred - visited us together with a traffic expert. They wanted to return Lola's backpack. She wore it at the time of the terrible accident and it possibly protected her from even more injuries. Seeing her backpack again and feeling it was very emotional. More details were given about what happened during that hellish evening. I am very resentful. Hopefully people will understand? With all due respect for seniors, I wonder if people (with a Belgian driving license) from the age of 75-80 years (or earlier?) should not be required to undergo tests in which they can prove that they have sufficient driving skills, reaction speed and traffic insight. Even an eye test. This exists in the surrounding countries. Why not in Belgium ?! I want to make this my mission.

2:00 pm Meeting with our Dutch injury lawyer.
 
 8:45 pm Exactly a week ago, Lola was grabbed off the road by a 85 year old man with his new car. Ruben, one of her supervisors, saved her life.

9:40 pm. Lola has been able to rest well for the rest of the day. Measures were taken for a neck brace and it will now be custom made. It can take a while.

At 10:00 pm she gets medication against the terrible pains she has to endure. We can see it in her eyes. Especially Mumy Leda. During the last few hours the nurses had been able to put her comfortably on her right side. But tonight she will sleep on her back. "Prevention of bed sores." Leda got a phone call from her brother Sergio, traveling in El Salvador. He is Lola’s godfather. It was hard for her to hear his voice. His daughters also send a lot of "big hugs to Pablo and he knows how much they love him!". We cannot forget Pablo.

August 9. Lola has had a good night's sleep. Leda woke up from a bad dream around 2 o'clock at night. The bad dream, however, was that she woke up and saw Lola lying again in this miserable situation. "Poor girl." she said to me.

At 9 am two speech therapists came to test and improve Lola’s swallowing reflex. There is a very light start but we have to wait and see. Just been washed. Lola is listening to her playlist "my songsss".  Chilling a bit. In the meantime more gifts have arrived. Thank you all! Thank you all in Boutersem, Breisem, Kerkom, etc. Thank you all at Leda's work, all colleagues at Canon! Especially in the name of little Lola.

The nurses and doctors told us this afternoon that there is a big chance that Lola will be transferred to Gasthuisberg hospital in Leuven (Belgium) tomorrow. Her condition is considered stable enough. Keep you posted.

They switched to a longer-lasting painkiller: sufentanil. Confirmed. Tomorrow at 9 am a Belgian ambulance will pick her up. Leda will be traveling along in the ambulance.

August 10. Lola travels with an int. ambulance service of Liège to the University Hospital GHB Leuven. The crew is French speaking but our Northern neighbours can do the transfer of Lola in English. This took almost 2 hours. Especially the breathing apparatus had to be perfectly adjusted. Her head was also stabilized with great care.

Around 1:00 pm the ambulance arrived at the Emergency Service in Gasthuisberg. Lola was immediately taken to the children's ward of the Intensive Care. A photo has already been taken of the lungs, also to check the newly placed catheter attached to her left shoulder. The left wrist has already been used too much and needs some rest. Lola continues to have a fever (< 40 degrees). One of the supervising doctors says that her body’s temperature management has some serious catching-up to do due to the surgery.

The first acquaintance with Gasthuisberg makes us a little homesick for the approach of the Dutch Intensive Care staff. The Dutch seem more human. Are we perhaps more of a number on GHB? Maybe too early to say this? In any case, visits are organized more strictly. Leda arranged that we, as her parents, are free to be with Lola between 9 am and 9 pm. There is also a room for Leda tonight and during the weekend to stay close to Lola. But what will happen after the weekend ...?

August 11. Lola had a quiet night. Her fever is back up again. Today we would have left on holiday to our friends in Australia. We made a handful of good friends from Melbourne and Sydney / Armidale when we lived in Beijing. It would have been Lola's dream trip. I had booked surf lessons in the surf hot spot Byron Bay. She was looking forward to it!

Lola is now being taken care of in a so-called isolation room, call it quarantine, because she comes from another hospital. They want to exclude all risks.

This is the bag we received immediately upon our arrival at the hospital in Nijmegen. We did not dare to open it. And we still don’t. It contains Lola's Chiro clothes that she was wearing at the moment when she was deprived of her bright future.

For the first time since that night, I went back home with Pablo to sleep. He wanted so much to sleep in his own bed. The boy is suffering. His dear sister is not sleeping in the room next to him. It’s as if she stayed somewhere to sleepover with a friend, because she was / is crazy about that. Her friends / girlfriends were very important to her!!!

Thank you all for the sweet cards, drawings, photos, balloons and toys! Lola wants us to read all letters and greeting cards. The Spotify playlist made by her school friends is regularly playing here! She continues to make a fever today: 39.6 degrees.

August 12.

12/8. Mama Leda and I both have taken half a sleeping pill to sleep a bit. Otherwise we will be unable to stand strong. On prescription! But Lola has hardly slept. "Poor girl, my heart breaks so hard!" says Leda. In Nijmegen we were able to sleep / watch in a 'connecting' room or even in Lola’s room. Different rules apply here in Leuven - protecting the patients even more - and one of us can exceptionally stay to sleep, although it is in a room not right next to Lola’s. Leda only heard about Lola's rough night when she called the IC this morning. We have mixed feelings about this. Stricter rules do not simplify the contact, but they guarantee more peace for Lola. And that is exactly what she needs.

Around noon, Lola was turned back on her right side. She is soo tired it did not even wake her up.

At 1:45 pm a Dutch MKA doctor (specialized in mouth, throat and face) with his assistant came to examine her swollen tongue. Lola still has a cramped, powerful bite and her tongue suffered a lot. This is not unusual with this kind of trauma. The doctor had a kind of spatula with a mesh around it. They were able to manoeuvre it between her posterior teeth. Hopefully the swelling will decrease very quickly.

2:00 pm. A switch is made to a fiber-rich tube feeding. Visit of Ken, Vanessa and Mami with a friend. A blessed Maria pendant now adorns her bed.

She has been able to rest well during the afternoon. Every 2 hours she was turned and placed in a different lying position. Every time Nurse Julie asks her if she is comfortable and Lola blinks "Yes!" each time.

7:00 pm Tonight brother Pablo stopped by with Lola's "Meteke" and her daughter Claire. Claire and Lola are very good friends and have been playing together since they were kids. A very moving reunion despite the fact that Lola is very tired. She is now sleeping again. Sweet dreams.
 
 Last visiting hour: 8:30 pm. The Keti supervisors (Chiro) are visiting Lola. Ruben, Lukas and Kobe were the three supervisors when the car drove into Lola. Kobe walked a few meters behind Lola as the 'last man'. Hero Ruben resuscitated Lola. The ambulance brought Lola to a meadow where the trauma helicopter picked her up. The three young men enter Lola's room at Intensive Care. Only the sound of the medical equipment overrides their thoughts. Ruben occasionally speaks. Lola blinks her eyes twice and I feel her thinking: "yes, I see them". Saying that these tough, young guys are impressed is an understatement. Every fibre in their bodies is screaming out their disbelief.

21: 00h. Good night, dear Lola. Sweet Dreams.

(...)