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Waynesburg native to celebrate recovery in Rose Parade

By Olivia Goudy ogoudy@heraldstandard.Com 4 min read
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Submitted photo

A float representing WVU Medicine Children’s and the “wild and wonderful” state of West Virginia will be featured in Friday’s Rose Parade with a Waynesburg native.

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Submitted photo

Meg Throckmorton, a Waynesburg native, will ride on a float representing West Virginia University Medicine Hospital where she was a patient.

Meg Throckmorton grew up watching the historic Rose Parade on the television. But this year, the Waynesburg native will be riding on a float in front of millions of Americans watching from home.

Throckmorton will be joining five other former WVU Medicine Children’s patients on their float Friday morning as it represents the “wild and wonderful” state of West Virginia and the Morgantown-based hospital.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I’m really excited to be a part of it,” Throckmorton, 19, said.

Her journey with WVU Medicine Children’s began when she was 16. While practicing for a dance competition, Throckmorton failed to negotiation the routine back tuck — a move she had done dozens of times before — and landed on her head.

The fracture to her C2 vertebrae left her paralyzed from the neck down. She was immediately flown to what was then called WVU Children’s Hospital. At one point in Throckmorton’s recovery, she was told she’d need to be on a ventilator for the rest of her life. Surgeons also performed a tracheotomy, and inserted a feeding tube and diaphragmatic pacer.

It was the latter operation, however, that set her case apart from most others with spinal cord injuries.

“We wanted to spotlight truly extraordinary stories that show the breadth of services we offer at such a high level. In Meg’s case, that included the fact that if she had gone to Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital, we believe they would have taken a much more conservative route with their care,” said Megan Skubovius, a development officer with WVU Medicine Children’s. “A lot of people, including our doctors and her family, believe they wouldn’t have done the diaphragmatic pacer surgery. Because she came here, and was willing to petition to have this implant, she can now walk, drive, breathe and talk on her own.”

Throckmorton was eventually transported to a rehabilitation facility in Atlanta, Georgia, where 13 days later, she began to feel twinges of movement. Little by little, they escalated, and within six weeks, doctors believed she would be able to walk, Throckmorton said.

Now, three years later, Throckmorton is a full-time sophomore at Waynesburg University, majoring in finance.

“Meg’s story is one for everyone to be proud of. Our doctors went above and beyond what other institutions would have done,” Skubovius said. “For Meg, and all of the other patients, they’ve faced life and death situations, and our doctors made their next adventures possible.”

“I’m honored that they picked me out of the tons of patients they get every year,” Throckmorton said.

The 55-foot float was designed by California-based artist and Morgantown native Lorraine Strieby, who combined the beauty of West Virginia’s four seasons with recreational activities like whitewater rafting and skiing, according to WVU Medicine-WVU Hospital’s news service coordinator Angela S. Jones-Knopf.

Jones-Knopf said the float also features two iconic West Virginia landmarks — the New River Gorge Bridge and The Greenbrier Springhouse. The goal of the float, she said, is to show all the adventures that await patients and their families once their treatment at WVU Children’s is complete.

Each patient will be featured on a different part of the float. Throckmorton said she will be wearing a life vest and be seated near the whitewater rafting display.

“We’re not just the stereotypical coal miner state that’s portrayed in the general media — we’re really so much more than that. We want to appeal to family-friendly audiences,” Skubovius said. “And from a hospital standpoint, you can get world-quality care right here in Morgantown. This is a chance to show who we are as a hospital, and state.”

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