NOVEMBER 21, 2004 update

On February 3, 2004, Christina Porter, Dartmouth College ’06, was near death after her skiing accident at Dartmouth Skiway during her physical education class. Christina was happily singing as she went up the ski lift and came down the mountain with five fellow students. At the final descent, the others took the steep slope while Christina chose the more modest slope. Near the bottom she skidded into a small birch tree. Her upper right arm was broken and her left skull shattered in a dozen pieces. The left skull would be soon removed at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center as an emergency measure to relieve head pressure. After five weeks, Christina was brought to Mount Sinai Medical Center to have cranialplasty surgery for a synthetic left skull replacement. Now after a total of nine months and slow, week-by-week progress in rehabilitation at JFK-Johnson Hartwyck Rehabilitation Center in Edison, NJ, a second major emergency brought Christina back to Mount Sinai. The synthetic skull had to be removed due to an infectious condition. A cyst the size of a golf ball was also found. The new cranialplasty may not occur for three to six months with the left brain collapsed, hopefully without further harm to already badly injured tissue. While Christina overcomes any possible infection and awaits her new cranialplasty, she returned on November 16 to JFK-Johnson Hartwyck to continue her treatment – ironically with a custom made helmet for her protection during therapy, recreation and travel. Christina recognizes her friends and appreciates their communication as letters and e-mails are read to her. (See the indicator herein for response to the website.)