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Friday, August 15, 2008

Parents choose your childs caregivers carefully, Shaken baby syndrome can cause life long problems or death

Kelsey Gillespie will never forget how she felt.

"Your world falls apart. She's my first and only child it's still hard to talk about it," says Gillespie referring to her two-year-old daughter, Haley. One-year-ago Haley became the victim of shaken baby syndrome. Her brain was so badly damaged, she had to be rushed into surgery.

"Before we brought her home they gave her a five percent chance of survival," says Gillespie.





What happened to Haley is more common than you might think. Some estimates say as many as 15 percent of all baby deaths are caused by violent shaking.

The statistics and stories were something Erin Rousseau couldn't ignore. "It just really hit home, I just had my son and it was an emotional time anyway," says Rousseau.

She started a campaign last year to bring awareness to shaken baby syndrome after she heard the story of Florida infant Kaleb Schwade. This year's fundraising efforts go to Haley.

"My goal is to let people know and make people aware of this." Before Haley became a victim, her parents had never heard of shaken baby syndrome. "And even now we've heard of it and been through it-it's one of those things you think this is never going to happen to us," says
Brad Gillespie.

Haley may appear normal, but doctors say she may have complications like learning disabilities and seizures later in life.

There is a fundraising volleyball tournament this weekend to help Haley's parents offset some of the medical expenses.

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