The 15-year-old Bronx schoolgirl struck in the head by a stray bullet is on her way to a miraculous full recovery -- and her doctor said yesterday she should be out of the hospital sometime next month.
Vada Vasquez's amazing prognosis, which her doctor chalks up to youthful resilience, has given her elated mother a lot to be thankful for -- considering her daughter just spent a week in a coma.
"She said, 'Mom.' She said, 'I love you,' " Gemma Vasquez marveled. "She said a couple of things."
Gemma said the family will have a quiet Thanksgiving today at Lincoln Hospital, although Vada is not yet ready to eat any turkey and gravy.
Angel Chevrestt
'GREAT THANKSGIVING' Nine days after Vada Vasquez (inset) was hit in the brain by a stray shot, her mom, Gemma Vasquez, and sister, Angela Ramsumair, yesterday celebrate the Bronx teen's amazing prognosis.
"I couldn't believe it, that she'd be the way she is today," Gemma said. "It's a great Thanksgiving. It's going to be a good Christmas, a good everything to me.
"She smiles and tries to talk and eat for herself."
Vada was hit in the back of the head on Nov. 16 as she walked home from school, when a young would-be gang member allegedly opened fire on a crowded Bronx street in a bid to kill a gang rival. Carvett Gentles, 16, has been charged with attempted murder in what authorities say stemmed from a jailhouse dispute.
"It was unbelievable. He's almost the same age as my sister," said Vada's sister, Angela Ramsumair.
"Looking at Vada in that bed, she is so frustrated and asking why her words are mixed up, why she can't speak right. It's heartbreaking and it makes me angry."
The bullet passed through her left temporal lobe -- an area that controls speech -- and she was rushed to Lincoln, a leading gun trauma center, where doctors sprang into action to save her life.
She was extremely lucky because if the bullet had gone in any other direction, she may have been hurt far worse or even died.
Vada's doctor, Narayan Sundaresan, Lincoln's chief of neurosurgery, said he was pleased with her prognosis.
"She can make a full recovery," Sundaresan said. "She has at this moment made a remarkable recovery, but she has some subtle defects in her speech which we expect will get better with therapy."
With time, Sundaresan said, the music-loving teen will regain full command of her speech and be able to sing along with her favorite songs.
Being able to help Vada was especially poignant for Sundaresan. When he was just 9 years old in Malaysia, his own mother was accidentally shot in the head -- an experience that led him to pursue a career in medicine.
Despite the good news, Gemma said she can see sadness in her daughter's eyes.
"I can see she's in pain," Gemma said.
Vada is also frustrated over losing her long hair. Doctors had to cut her locks before the operation.
"She had beautiful long hair," Gemma said. "She touches it and asks me and says, 'Why?' "
Sundaresan said it was unlikely that Vada would remember what happened to her.
"A lot of times when you suffer a traumatic injury to the brain, you develop amnesia," he said.
"I suspect that one of the great things about the brain is you probably don't recall these events."
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