After Her Accident, Lauren Looks at Life Differently
Five-year-old Lauren Choi awakened to find herself in a hospital bed surrounded by her dad, aunts, uncles, brothers and her mom, who was “bawling her eyes out.” The young resident of Flemington couldn’t move. “I couldn’t hug my mom – my brain was freaking out,” Lauren recalls. Through sobs, her mother explained that Lauren had been in a car accident, and that she would need to work very hard to get back to where she had been before.
Her spine injured from the impact of the collision, Lauren’s diagnosis was incomplete paralysis. Though she was paralyzed from the shoulders down, there was a slight chance that the damaged, and now-dormant, nerves might revive and let her feel again.
Unable to move upon arrival at Children’s Specialized Hospital in Mountainside in 2004, Lauren initially received no therapy so that her spine could heal. She attended Children’s school, which provided one-to-one tutoring in a classroom. “My brain wasn’t damaged,” notes Lauren, currently 17 years old. “My teacher from Children’s would write everything for me. It would take hours and hours, and my teacher was so patient with me. That stands out for me – how Children’s provides kids with an education.”
Then, after months of immobility, as Lauren watched a movie in bed with her mom, she felt an urge to move her right leg. It moved an inch. Her mother said, “That’s more than enough to start physical and occupational therapy!” The next day, in the PT area, Lauren was harnessed to a machine that held her on a treadmill, and two therapists moved her legs in a careful walking motion. In OT, she worked hard at picking up playing cards and holding pens.
Six months later, the little girl walked out of Children’s wearing braces and using crutches. Lauren could now pick up cups, hold pens, grip a book, and brush her own teeth – “simple things that people take for granted.” She recalls that the “nurses and whole staff at Children’s were so supportive, positive, energetic and friendly. They impacted me more than they’ll ever know.”
From then on, the upbeat and exceptionally hardworking child continued to blossom. At age seven, she ranked seventh in New Jersey for alto 1 (high alto voice) in the regional choir. That year, Children’s Miracle Network named her Miracle Child of New Jersey. Today, a junior in high school, Lauren walks with braces and a walker, and works daily on improving her fine motor skills. She acts and sings in high school musicals and loves playing piano. “I want to be an inspiration to others, and to be motivated by the people I’m inspiring.”