A story of despair: Shaken baby awareness

Child suffers alleged abuse by babysitter

Shaken Baby Syndrome — Baby Juliana Thaxton will never be the same after suffering abuse.

Babies cry. Often, the crying is because of hunger, needing to be changed, exhaustion or loneliness. Other times, however, the baby’s crying is inconsolable. The inconsolable crying that leads to a caregiver violently shaking a baby many times is out of frustration or anger, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) is a result of abusive head trauma that comes from shaking an infant by the shoulders, arms or legs and is the leading cause of child abuse deaths in the United States. SBS is something that Joleen Thaxton has become acquainted with in the past year according to the CDC.

Thaxton is the assistant director of admissions at the Liberty University School of Law. She has spent the past year being a voice for her daughter Juliana and other children who have been victims of child abuse.
Juliana was born Sept. 30, 2008. She was a healthy baby and had no major health issues. At 16 months old, Juliana was walking and talking, Thaxton said. On Friday, Jan. 29, 2010, Thaxton was thrown a curve ball when she received a phone call from her babysitter’s husband.

“The call was to tell me that I needed to get to their house quickly,” Thaxton said.

Juliana was unresponsive and in a coma. The babysitter’s husband was in the ambulance with Juliana when Thaxton arrived. Thaxton describes the events that follow as a “silent horror film.”

“When we arrived at the hospital, Juliana had her eyes open, but she could not recognize me,” Thaxton said. “Her movements were rigid, much like a toy soldier. She didn’t blink and was foaming at the mouth.”

After doctors were not able to find out what was happening with Juliana, she was transferred to the University of Virginia Medical Center (UVA) and had to be manually pumped with oxygen during transportation.

“I remember feeling that I needed to help my daughter,” Thaxton said. “But I was bound to my seat. I was afraid to look at her, fearing the worst.”

The following morning, Juliana went into respiratory arrest. Thaxton was told at three different times that her daughter was dying. Juliana stayed in a coma and on a respirator for a few days and was never the same when she woke up. Thaxton spent the next two weeks with her daughter in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Although Juliana made it out of the ICU, she was left with a severe traumatic brain injury. An MRI would tell the story of what happened to Juliana. The report revealed that she had both old and new bleeds to her brain. Allegedly, Juliana had been non-accidentally shaken.

“Once I was thinking clearly, I realized my daughter was also admitted to the hospital in April 2009. The babysitter had called with a similar story of Juliana taking a nap and waking to seizure-type activity,” Thaxton said. “She was admitted to the hospital and later released as having ‘breath-holding’ spells. An MRI was never done. I no longer believe that my daughter had a spell in April.“

Thaxton was told at UVA that not only had 60 percent of her daughter’s brain been damaged, and her injuries were equivalent to falling from a four-story building or being in a high impact car accident.

Juliana no longer walks or talks. She is blind and has to be fed through a feeding tube since she is no longer able to eat. Juliana also suffers from Lennox Gastaut syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy which causes mental retardation and other developmental delays. According to Thaxton, Juliana can suffer anywhere from 15 to 20 seizures a day.

Since Juliana now requires 24-hour care, Thaxton’s mother, Suzanne Cline, has moved to Lynchburg to help.

“My mom has been a wonderful blessing to my life,” Thaxton said. “She cares for Juliana around the clock while I am at work, and I couldn’t care for Juliana without her. She is Juliana’s guardian angel.”

Cline spends each day caring for Juliana. The tragedy has only strengthened her relationship with her granddaughter, Cline said.

“Jules has given my life a new purpose,” Cline said. “My days are spent laying on the floor singing to her, rocking her or tickling her. When I make her laugh, I know I have done my job. All I want is to hear laughter from her. She deserves it after all she has been through.”

Although caring for Juliana is difficult, according to Cline, it cannot compare to Juliana’s struggles.

“Caring for Jules everyday is really hard,” Cline said. “She is on a strict schedule, and I am always worried about making sure her countless medications are correct or counting to make sure she gets the correct (amount) of water and milk. Jules has the toughest job though, and I am always impressed by her strength.”

Thaxton learned about SBS and its effects during the time Juliana spent in the ICU.

“The last year of my life has been a roller coaster,” Thaxton said. “(I have been) learning as much as I can about her condition and long term care.”

While Juliana was in the ICU, Thaxton met other families that had shared the same tragedy. Thaxton later met Ali Bailess, president and founder of Stop SBS Virginia.

“We all kind of teamed together and knew we had to do something more to educate our community,” Thaxton said. “I realized that statistically, there had to be a lot of these children out there.”

After doing research, Thaxton found a lot of children that suffer from SBS in the Lynchburg community alone. She now works with Stop SBS Virginia to educate the Greater Lynchburg area, specifically families, hospitals, physicians and care-givers about SBS.

Juliana had no physical signs of abuse. Because of the severe traumatic brain injury, she will now require 24-hour care for the rest of life. Thaxton encourages parents to get an MRI if they have any concern that their child could have been abused.

“She will never be able to see the world. She will never be able to participate in life the way her cousins can. It breaks my heart. Juliana never deserved any of this.” Thaxton said. “I look at my daughter every day and feel overwhelming guilt that there is nothing I can do for her. It’s a struggle every day to keep all of the saucers spinning. One person, one predator, changed the direction of an entire generation.”

The case against Juliana Thaxton’s babysitter is pending.

Blue ribbons are worn during the month of April in support of Stop Child Abuse month. For more information about SBS and Stop SBS Virginia, visit stopsbsva.org.

12 comments

  • Hey Ladies, Great article. This is the stuff people need to hear. Kathy and I love you all. Give Juliana hugs from the Stowes. Steve Stowe

  • Joe and Stephanie

    I like the site!YSS! Yell.Scream.Spread the message!!!
    Please :o)

  • That is so sad!!!I am crying right nkw

    • I worked for about four years with mental health and retardation clients if there is anything I learned is that they don’t want you to treat them special they want to feel as normal as possible. I read a few times about clients being normal and being shakes or thrown and my job went from being a job into being a friend and caregiver I have been saddened by all these tragedies we are put here to love one another not hurt our children I’m so sorry for this situation although it is very difficult all you can do is love this child as she needs and wants I talked to one of the clients and he cried saying I know I’m different but I just want to be loved and cared for I want to be normal and I told him why would you want to be normal you are unique and a blessing from God he wants u to see things through his eyes not your own he wants you to teach us normal people how to love past our own selfishness and your not ever gonna be normal but you will always be so unique that you have to teach us .hold your head up momma its hard but at least you didn’t give up I have seen parents walk away or being taken from the children and parents didn’t care .hold her everyday and love her make her know that God didnt do this to hurt her but to help him prayers sent your way and thank you for sharing this special story .

  • MARYKATHERINE JOHNSON

    JUST GOT THOUGHT READING ABOUT YOUR DAUGHTER I PRAY THAT YOU ALL
    GET THROUGHT THIS BECAUSE KNOW CHILD SHOULD HAVE TO DONE LIKE THIS ARE A GIFT FROM GOD OUR FATHER.I PRAISE YOU FOR WHAT YOU ARE DOING GOD BLESS

  • We lost our granddaughter last fall to SBS. She was 10 weeks old. We are now working on bringing SBS awareness to the Kitsap County/Puget Sound area in her memory.

  • My prays are with you and the baby. No baby or children should be shaken or abuse. These babies are a gift from God. But why don’t justice have better laws for hurting our babies. I crying writing this. GOD BLESS YOUR FANILY!

  • I’m praying for this sweet innocent baby girl I hope the babysitter that did this to get gets what she deserves

  • What’s Pending. ????.I Hate these stupid laws. .Especially when it comes to Children. …

  • This is an informative article about SBS. However, there are no solutions given to the caregiver that is obviously frustrated and does not know what to do or how to stop the crying. And I know sometimes the crying cannot be stopped. I would think there would be some advice, options presented with an article like this.

  • Kelli Wren Crackel

    This is so sad. Here in Georgia, we had a 16 year old die just a few days ago from complications from where here father shook her as a baby. Her name was September Watson. A friend of mine was her home healthcare nurse (don’t worry this info didn’t come from her. It came from the news coverage, so no HIPPA laws broken). Her father is in prison, and now they’re looking into adding a charge of murder to the child cruelty charges for which he’s already in jail. This is the most unnecessary injury to a child out there and our child cruelty laws should be much harsher.

  • My granddaughter was admitted to the hospital due to severe head trauma in November of last year. She was only 4 months old. She is mostly blind, paralyzed from the waist down, there is some brain damage, seizures….etc. My heart goes out to you. I feel so very guilty as well. I feel like I failed her.

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