Local woman with brain injury receives inspiration from her pet cat with the same condition

By JEFF MEYERS
Staff Writer

January 29, 2008 04:00 am

— PLATTSBURGH -- Dale Chaffee rolled the tiny plastic ball along the kitchen floor.
The small black cat pounced on it, striking it with her paw and renewing the chase when it ricocheted against the nearby wall.
It was a typical move for a feline barely more than a kitten, antics anyone who has a cat never grows tired of watching.
But this cat, named Rosa, moved differently from most.
She swayed on her legs, as if they didn't have the strength to hold her body, and at times she would stumble and lose her balance, only to rise quickly and continue her never-ending effort to corral the tiny ball.
Rosa is about a year old, and her short life has been filled with crests and valleys.
She suffers from traumatic brain injury, a condition her owner knows only too well.
FRAGILE KITTEN
"One day, this little black kitty came to me, no more than four weeks old," said Dale's wife, Vicki Chaffee, who is a victim of traumatic brain injury. "She was so tiny and so fragile. She had to be bottle fed."
Vicki brought the animal to the vet's office, where it was determined that the kitten had suffered the debilitating injury sometime during those first four weeks of life.
"She was stumbling all over," Vicki said of the young kitten's efforts to move. "I asked the vet, What do you think about her quality of life?' and said I didn't want her to suffer."
But the vet said there was no need to euthanize the kitten, that she would learn to compensate for her disability.
"She was barely walking at all, but she has come so far since then," Vicki said. "She plays with the other cats, she runs into things, bumps her head, shakes it off and gets back and starts all over again.
"She is happy, and she is my inspiration. If she can do it, then I shouldn't feel so bad about myself. She gives me so much encouragement every day."
CRASH changed life
Vicki's own story started just under six years ago, in April 2002, when a car accident changed her life in an instant.
Vicki and her niece, Elizabeth Alexander, were heading to Plattsburgh on Route 87 when the Ford Escort they were in was struck from behind by an 18-wheeler logging truck.
Because of the brain injury she suffered, she doesn't remember a lot about the accident, but the year that followed -- when she sought answers for the mental and physical changes she was experiencing -- turned her life into a nightmare.
"I had been an LPN at Meadowbrook (prior to the accident), but I couldn't do it anymore. I tried to work half days, but I couldn't remember things and became tired very easily."
Vicki had undergone several tests -- MRIs, CAT scans -- but doctors did not find any specific cause for her problems.
"We were told nothing was wrong," Dale said, as Vicki fought back tears from the memory of those months of not knowing.
Finally, a friend mentioned the possibility of a brain injury and suggested Vicki go to the Traumatic Brain Injury Center at Plattsburgh State. There, the brain injury that was robbing her of her past existence was verified.
"In some cases, brain injury is clear cut, but then there are others that are not as easily diagnosed," said Melissa Mose from the Traumatic Brain Injury Center. "It's a silent epidemic that often remains hidden."
"It was such a relief, not that I had brain injury, but that I finally had something I knew was causing everything," Vicki said. "I finally had something I would be able to work with."
INSPIRED BY CAT
There is no cure for the injury, but with therapy and understanding, Vicki has been able to move forward, helped by the strength from her family and from the cat she holds so dear.
"I still have my bad days. I still fall. I still get in the shower and get out wondering if I had rinsed my hair or not. But then there's Rosa Parks."
The Chaffees named their furry friend after the African-American civil-rights activist who, in 1955, refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus to a white passenger.
"Rosa (the activist) refused to give up, and this kitty has done the same thing," Vicki said.
The cat will sometimes prop herself against the wall as she walks from one area to another. Vicki noticed that technique and uses it herself when she's tired but wants to move from one room to another.
"People (with traumatic brain injury) can work on strategies to compensate," Mose noted. "It might take a lot of time and effort, but they can learn from Rosa not to give up."
Vicki plans to bring her best feline friend to the Traumatic Brain Injury Center to share her story with other people struggling with the harsh realities of how brain injuries can completely disrupt lives.
"We think she can be an inspiration to a whole group of people," Dale said.
When Rosa tires of her play, she plops onto the floor to rest. But there is a certain look about her, a look that says, "In a minute, I'll be up and at it again. I just know it."
jmeyers@pressrepublican.com

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