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Grandma's Baby: A True Story of One Family's Struggle with "Shaken Baby Syndrome" and what they call "Shaken Family Syndrome"

by Karen Wise R.N.

145 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-1280; ISBN 1-55395-564-1; US$17.50, C$20.00, EUR14.50, £10.00

A true story of one family's struggle with Shaken Baby Syndrome.

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about the book      about the author      excerpts and Table of Contents      catalogue info

About the Book What would you do if someone intentionally abused or harmed your first grandchild? Usually when that question is posed, the reply is immediate. I know the reality, and the rest of the story.... On June 19, 1998, my daughter's boyfriend beat and shook my first grandchild nearly to death and tossed her to the floor unconscious. Fighting for her life she arrived at a large Children's Hospital in an EMS vehicle, lights and sirens screaming. Her diagnosis, ...Shaken Baby Syndrome. I am a trauma nurse and I was working in the ER that mind-boggling evening. I knew very little about Shaken Baby Syndrome at the time except to say that it would never happen in my family! By the end of the evening the ignorance and innocence of my youth as a mother were gone forever. From that life shattering Friday in June until the fall of the year, our family as a whole changed beyond recognition. The changes have proven irreversible. Shortly after my granddaughter's abuse I began to journalize my thoughts in an effort to keep from exploding. Being a nurse it was imperative that I educate myself on the facts and fallacies surrounding her diagnosis, while embroiled in the legal system directly and vicariously. Several months into "the process" I realized a message had emerged through the pain, and I began to feel a sense of responsibility and humility. Over the last four years I have put these thoughts together to create my book called, Grandma's Baby. At a time when Shaken Baby Syndrome is on the rise and we as a nation have been shaken to our very foundation, I humbly share our story. Together we can rise to meet the challenges of child abuse through education, awareness, and love and learn that protecting one another begins first in our hearts and in our homes.

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About the Author In 1983, Karen Wise began a career in pediatric nursing as an L.P.N and in 1994, received her degree as a Registered Nurse. Transcending her experience working in the Emergency Room of a large Children's Hospital, Karen retired from nursing in 2003 and founded The Grandma's Baby Project: a non-profit organization whose goal is to help educate and increase public awareness about Shaken Baby Syndrome. Born and raised in the Heartland of the Midwest, with traditional American values, Karen is an Ohio mother of two grown children and three grandchildren, including Alexis - Grandma's Baby.

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Excerpts and Table of Contents

CONTENTS Preface Introduction One - Friday Night Two - The Princess of Darkness Three - Rage vs. Reality Four - Saturday Five - Sunday Six - Ignorance and Innocence Seven - Black Tuesday Eight - The Social Worker Nine - Jason Ten - Back to Court Eleven - His Sister Twelve - The End.. So To Speak Thirteen - Shaken Family Syndrome Fourteen - Shaken Abuser Fifteen - A Miracle INTRODUCTION In every lifetime there is a pivotal point at which everything changes. So unmistakably earthshaking is that moment or event that there is absolutely no doubt that nothing will ever be the same again. June 19, 1998, was that pivotal earth-shattering day for my family and I. The unimaginable happened in my middle class, hard working, bill paying, and rule following family. Someone tried to kill my 14-month-old grandchild. It wasn't the deliberate premeditated type of attempt you read about in murder mysteries. It was something far worse. It was child abuse in one of its ugliest forms. In an unprecedented fit of rage, my daughter's boyfriend beat and shook our granddaughter to the point of death. In what is more commonly called "Shaken Baby Syndrome," he violated my first grandchild in an effort to halt her crying. I am a pediatric trauma nurse in a large Children's Hospital emergency department. I am well aware of Shaken Baby Syndrome from a clinical standpoint, but until that day it was something that only happened to other people's children. Until that night, it was one of those things you hear about on the news and read about in the paper followed by a queer sense of relief, secure in the belief that those kinds of things never happen in your family. Actually, it's a personal form of arrogance providing a false sense of security. "These things don't happen in families like mine," is the subliminal message sent deep into our psyche in order that we may continue our day free of guilt and fear. Without that defense mechanism, I doubt anyone would sleep through the night. This is our story, packaged neatly between the covers of this book and blessed with the hope of sparing any mother, grandmother, aunt, uncle, father, or any other loving family member the pain and agony of watching this horrendous senseless act of violence befalling one of your babies.

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Catalogue Information

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