Don't Shake the Baby:
Local family grateful for their child's recovery
By: Susan Deans, for the editorial board
The Boulder Daily Camera , April 2, 2007
Tina and Sean McLaughlin have been through parents' hell. A year ago, their then 5-month-old son, Von, was shaken by his nanny. His brain bled from the trauma.
But Von is showing few ill effects from the injury now, as Daily Camera reporter Christine Reid wrote Sunday, "bouncing around his playroom."
Von and his family were fortunate. Hundreds of infants and children each year suffer severe or fatal head trauma from being shaken, in anger or frustration, by a caregiver.
It's hard to fathom why anyone would harm an infant as Von was hurt.
But it's not unusual to see such cases, even in affluent and well-educated Boulder County. Deputy District Attorney Colette Cribari has handled half a dozen shaken-baby cases. Several children died and the rest live with handicaps such as blindness and deafness.
The National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome, on its Web site, www.dontshake.org, describes the horrific results when an infant is shaken:
The brain rotates within the skull cavity, injuring or destroying brain tissue.
Blood vessels feeding the brain can be torn, leading to bleeding around the brain.
Blood pools within the skull, sometimes creating more pressure within the skull and possibly causing additional brain damage.
Retinal bleeding in the eyes is common.
The nanny, Ligia Maria Naranjo-Zuniga, imported from Costa Rica after the McLaughlins found her advertising on Craigslist.org, is serving 10 years in prison at Brush Correctional Facility in connection with Von's injuries. She is appealing the conviction.
The McLaughlins had been concerned about her, thinking she seemed uninterested and inexperienced in child care, and even had warned her not to shake Von in frustration. They had resolved to confront her but before they could, she called in panic on March 8, 2006, saying Von was on the floor and not moving.
At the emergency room, his eyes were rolling back in his head. He had significant blood-vessel breakage in the backs of his eyes, and his brain was bleeding. A doctor said his injuries were equivalent to a fall from a two-story window.
Now Von is doing well, described by one neurologist as healed. At 18 months he runs, says "Mama" and "Dada" and quacks like a duck on cue. But he must still be monitored for long-term effects as he gets older.
Grateful for their good fortune, the McLaughlins have decided to help spread the word that shaking babies can kill them.
"Going forward," said Sean McLaughlin. "That's what we're doing, that's what Von's doing."
The family plans a three-day bike ride this summer in an effort to raise $50,000 for a Children's Hospital campaign that will inform the public about the traumas of shaking babies.
That campaign began Sunday, the first day of National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Those who wish to contribute to the campaign may contact Children's Hospital at www.dontshakeababy.com.
Susan Deans, for the editorial board
Daily Camera
