7 year old injured in shooting; undergoes intensive treatment
Janay Moguel
Another victim whose condition is guarded is seven year old Janay Moguel, the little girl who was wounded during the fatal shooting of nineteen year old Darrel Williams on Monday evening. The standard one student has undergone surgery but her Neurosurgeon, Dr. Joel Cervantes says that they won’t know her long term prospects for another forty-eight hours.
Dr. Joel Cervantes, Neurosurgeon, B.H.P.L.
“She was the victim of a gunshot that entered on the left side to the upper part of the lung. The heat wave from the gunshot apparently caused damage to the upper part of the thoracic spine; the level of T3 on the thoracic spine and the bullet exited right over the left shoulder. Janay came to the hospital in a critical condition. Because of the wound to the left lung, practically the left lung was full of blood and was nearly completely collapsed, which is a life threatening injury as such. Immediate the general surgeon inserted a chest tube, which is a lifesaving procedure and it was necessary for her to be intubated, which is a tube put in the throat to allow her to breathe and she was placed on life support.
Dr. Joel Cervantes
We realized that there was injury to the spine at the level of T3. A cat scan was done and as soon as Janay was stabilized, she was taken to surgery where space had to be created at the level of T3 on the spinal cord because of severe swelling on the spinal cord. At this point in time, Janay is stable; she has been extubated—the tube has been taken out of her throat and she is breathing on her own, she can talk. What we have been able to locate so far is that she can move her right hand freely, but we do have a limitation at this point we’re not really finding movement with the left arm and with both legs at this point.”
Jacqueline Woods, Channel Seven
“How worrisome is that?
Janay Moguel
Dr. Joel Cervantes
“Very worrisome because I am concerned that she could end up having a permanent injury and being paralyzed in both legs and the left hand. That’s a very important situation. However, what I can tell you is that it is early, there definitely is a bruise along with the swelling of the spinal cord. We are considering doing an MRI of the spine, which is a very sophisticated study to look at a tissue within the spinal cord. However, the surgery that needs to be done has been done so now we’re giving her medications to try to take off the swelling from the spinal cord so as to not allow more swelling to develop.”
