'Miracle Baby' Takes Another Step Toward Coming Home

'Miracle Baby' Takes Another Step Toward Coming Home

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Story Published: Sep 16, 2002 at 9:26 AM PDT

Story Updated: Aug 31, 2006 at 12:48 AM PDT

By Michelle Esteban

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SEATTLE - Twenty-month-old Emily Woodrow, known to doctors as a "miracle baby", was getting out of Harborview Medical Center Monday.

She was burned over 75-percent of her body in a house fire earlier this year, and given only a 25 percent chance of survival.

Every inch of her body except for her bottom and the soles of her feet were burned.

But she's fought back, and Monday was very special because it's a another hurdle that this toddler has overcome.

Her battle began on May 1, when fire swept through her nursery. Everything in the room was burned -- even her crib was disintegrated.

It's been a daily, and sometimes and hourly, struggle. First, doctors closed her burn wounds with artificial skin called Integra that prevented infection, which can be deadly in burn victims.

Then, it's been a struggle to keep her body parts flexible. She's been in rehab every day twice a day just stretching her arms and legs.

She's still having trouble with her hands, which in some spots were burned to the bone.

From Harborview ,she goes to Children's Hospital for a couple months of more intense rehabilitation.

"It makes me feel like she's actually going to come home," said Emily's mother Michelle Woodrow. "She's going to be OK again and we're over a big part of the hill."

If everything goes as planned, doctors say Emily may be home for the holidays, or as early as November.

Her doctor says the marks on her face will eventually fade and it will be hard to tell she's a burn victim.

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