Children's Center Brings Little Girl Dream of Going Home

By Kirsten McIntyre, NEWS 9

BETHANY, Oklahoma -- Imagine living your entire life in the hospital, and then finally being told you're healthy enough to go home. At The Children's Center in Bethany, a little girl named Angelina is living that dream come true.

Angelina Parker had a tea party Wednesday at the Children's Center to celebrate being able to go home after spending all of her three and a half years in the hospital.

"Now that she's home, I feel like my family is complete. That's it...the love is there," Angelina's mother Erin Francisco said.

It's been quite a journey for this little princess. Born prematurely at 26 weeks, all the attention is well-deserved. Once on a ventilator, once with a tracheostomy tube to help her breath, once with very sick lungs, Angelina has come a long way.

"She could not breathe on her own. She could not move on her own and she is now breathing on her own without assistance, walking, communicating and is a very happy little girl," said Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Julie Hale-Langmacher.

Because her vocal cords are paralyzed, Angelina must communicate without her voice for the rest of her life. She uses sign language and a high tech communication device that speaks for her as she pushes buttons.

"It's just like thinking about somebody who uses a cane to walk. Angelina just uses a computer to speak," Speech Pathologist Heather Jarvis said.

The device will grow up with her. She'll eventually be able to program it on her own so she can say anything she wants. Wednesday, the message was a bittersweet goodbye.

"If I had a $1 million to give you guys, I would. I mean it's a great place, it's nothing short of amazing. I love it here and I love what they did for my daughter," Angelina's mother said.