Katarina Parsons, age 6, was attacked and dragged by two family dogs. She suffered deep wounds to her neck, chest, shoulder, and other areas. Her mother and sister intervened and she was airlifted to CHKD. There, a trauma team assembled that included surgeons, nurses, and other specialists. They worked for hours to stabilize her condition and close her wounds. Despite severed nerves in her arm, Katarina recovered with the help of physical therapy and support from the hospital staff. She was able to return home after 11 days at CHKD.

1. Feature
SUMMER 2016 7
Kat’s mom, Sandy, raced to her aid and threw herself
without thinking into the melee. Kat’s sister, Justice, ran for
help. For the next several minutes, Sandy fought the dogs
with every ounce of strength she had. She was finally able
to scoop her daughter into her arms and take refuge in her
car while a neighbor kept the dogs at bay with a shovel.
“It was terrifying. Katarina was bleeding and crying,” says
Sandy, who had injured her foot and was also covered with
bites.“I was physically and emotionally exhausted.”
Emergency medical technicians arrived and called
for an air ambulance to take Katarina to CHKD for
trauma care.
The CHKD trauma team is ready 24/7 to respond to a
complex pediatric trauma emergency. In the past year, the
team treated close to 600 trauma patients suffering from
injuries including internal injuries, complex fractures, burns,
head trauma and spinal cord injuries.
“Ourtraumateamconsistsofadozendifferentindividuals,
starting with the emergency room attending physician and
a surgeon, who are at the hospital around the clock,” says
Dr. M. Ann Kuhn, a pediatric surgeon and medical director
of trauma services at CHKD. “When we are alerted about
an incoming trauma patient, we immediately assemble a
team consisting of a pediatric anesthesiologist, a surgical
resident, an emergency room resident, at least three nurses,
a pharmacist, a radiologist, a representative from the
operating room and a social worker and chaplain to support
the family.”
This team was ready for Katarina when she arrived. As the
medical team sprang into action to assess Katarina’s injuries,
Sandy also received some special care from a nurse on
the team. “I was just standing there, numb from it all, and
suddenly a nurse started picking dried leaves from my hair
and wiping the blood from my face,”Sandy says. “I thought
little of it then, but I think a lot about it now. It was just the
first of many ways CHKD cared for all of us.”
Dr. Frazier Frantz, CHKD’s chief of surgery, was the surgeon
on call for trauma that day. As he removed Katarina’s neck
brace to examine her wounds, he saw that the bites had
exposed her jugular vein.
While tests ultimately showed that Kat’s jugular was
intact, her other injuries were extensive. She had deep,
rough tears across her chest, shoulder and neck where
she was missing tissue. She also had bites on her thigh
and pelvis, and a lung had collapsed.“They were the worst
injuries I’d ever seen from a dog attack,”says Dr. Frantz.
WRITTEN BY Rich Radford
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Susan Lowe
6 Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters
O
n December 13, the day before her sixth birthday, Katarina Parsons was helping her mother and sister
pack the car for a trip to the beach when two Belgian Malanois, family pets with no history of aggression,
streaked across the driveway. They attacked Kat, gripping her by the neck and leg and dragging her
across the front lawn.
Katarina Parsons and mom Sandy give CHKD surgeon Frazier
Frantz a gift of gratitude for saving Katarina’s life – a framed
photo from her hospital stay decorated with her own drawings
and a note that reads,“Thank you for helping me.”
CHKD team responds to trauma

2. 8 Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters SUMMER 2016 9
5 4
1 2 3
In surgery, Dr. Frantz and his team worked quickly to stabilize
Katarina. They spent hours and used more than 200 stitches to close
her wounds. Meanwhile, Sandy waited for her husband Kurt and their
two other daughters, who were rushing to CHKD from Maryland. The
Parsons, who are from the Annapolis area, were visiting close friends
in Chesapeake when the attack occurred.
Other members of Katarina’s care team at CHKD were also
responding, including child life specialists, nurses, social workers and
chaplains. Kristi Beers, a CHKD social worker, explained procedures,
helped with paperwork and immediately went to work to find a place
for the Parsons to spend the night nearby. Mary-Katherine “Kit”Tate,
a chaplain at CHKD, was also at Sandy’s side, holding her hand for
many hours that night as they waited for news from the operating
room. And Lisa Hand, a CHKD child life specialist, prepared to help Kat
through a difficult birthday the following day. “There were so many
people working so hard to help Katarina,” says Sandy. “Even though
we were far from home, we never felt alone.”
Celebrating a birthday after such a traumatic event is difficult,
but CHKD’s child life specialists understand that acknowledging
the special day can help provide a distraction and normalize a
patient’s experience. The morning after the accident, Lisa delivered a
special birthday gift: a doll that looked just like Kat with long hair and
brown eyes.
“If the patient gets a cast, the doll gets a cast,” Lisa says. “If the
patient gets an IV, we’ll give the doll an IV. It helps the child focus on
something other than her own discomfort.”
As Kat’s swelling began to subside, Dr. Frantz called Dr. John Birknes,
a pediatric neurosurgeon at CHKD, to take a closer look at the injury
to Kat’s arm.
“It is obvious that
everyone who works
here is dedicated to
helping children heal,
and we will forever be
grateful for CHKD.”
-Sandy Parsons
From the moment a child arrives at CHKD, every member of
the hospital and medical team is mobilized to provide special
care to patients and their families.
1. Sarah Scouten, a registered nurse, helped manage Katarina’s
pain and recovery progress.
2. Katrina Wilson, a CHKD patient information officer, greeted
the Parsons family each morning and gave Katarina a holiday
gift originally purchased for her own granddaughter.
3. Kristi Beers, a CHKD social worker, found care services and
resources for Katarina and her family.
4. CHKD chaplains“Kit”Tate and Bennie Kingwood provided
spiritual and emotional support to the Parsons family.
5. Lisa Hand, a child life specialist, used play to help Katarina
through difficult medical procedures.

3. 10 Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters SUMMER 2016 11
“When I examined Kat, it became evident she had no
feeling in her left arm,” says Dr. Birknes. An MRI revealed that
one of the dog’s teeth had penetrated Kat’s dural sheath, the
tough exterior membrane that surrounds and protects the
spine. The puncture caused a leak of fluid from her spine, and
nerves leading to her left arm had been ripped.
“There are five nerve roots that go from the spine to a ball
of nerves that moves the arm,” Dr. Birknes says. “At least two
of Kat’s nerve roots had been severed during the attack.”
Dr. Birknes explained that Kat would need months of healing
before surgeons could attempt to repair the nerves and
restore movement to her arm.
Still, Kat’s physical therapy team needed ways to get her
moving around, a key element to her recovery. With the
holidays drawing near, Sandy described a tradition based on
the book calledThe Elf on the Shelf – a holiday elf hidden each
night and discovered by Kat and her sisters each morning.
Kristi hurried down to CHKD’s gift shop, where shop
manager Mary-Claire Darden was able to find one last smiling
elf for Kat.“The elf changed positions while Kat slept,”says Dr.
Frantz. “It was Kat’s job to go find him. And it worked. It got
Kat engaged and out of bed for her physical therapy.”
CHKD chaplain Kit also found a clever way to engage Kat.
She arrived one day with a special candy bar that helped
them bond: a Kit-Kat bar.“From that point on, Kat was looking
forward to Kit’s arrival each day,”Sandy says.
In the following days, Kat’s condition stabilized, and plans
were made to move her to a hospital closer to home. While
Sandy was simply grateful that her daughter was alive, she
knew this holiday would be a tough one. “It was just a few
days before Christmas. I had no gifts to give my kids. That’s
when the child life specialists took me to Santa’s workshop.”
Each year, CHKD’s child life department turns a hospital
conference room into a makeshift toy store, and child life
specialists help parents of hospitalized children select brand-
new gifts donated throughout the year for patients. The
Parsons were able to hand select gifts for each daughter. For
Kat, Sandy chose a few books, a craft kit and a Barbie doll.
Eleven days after the traumatic attack, Katarina Parsons
headed back home to Maryland, where doctors continued
her care.
Katarina and her mother returned to the hospital three
months later to thank the trauma team at CHKD that saved
her life.
“CHKD surrounded us with amazing care during one
of the most difficult times in our family’s life, and we feel a
connection here,” says Sandy. “There were so many people
who helped us. It is obvious that everyone who works here
is dedicated to helping children heal, and we will forever be
grateful for CHKD.”
“The rapid response and integration of all elements of our
trauma team give patients the best chance of survival and
full recovery,” says Dr. Frantz. “CHKD is uniquely equipped to
meet the full spectrum of physical and emotional needs of
injured children and their families. Caring for Katarina and
her loving family was a true privilege. Seeing her skipping
through the halls of the hospital after her wounds had healed
was very gratifying and helped to validate our commitment
to providing quality trauma care.”
Katarina plays a game of air hockey with CHKD neurosurgeon
John Birknes who cared for her during her recovery.
Dr. John Birknes Dr. Frazier Frantz Dr. M. Ann Kuhn
For more information on CHKD’s trauma care, visit CHKD.org/trauma.
Dr. John Birknes practices with CHKD Surgical Group’s
neurosurgery practice. Dr. Frazier Frantz and Dr. M. Ann Kuhn
practice with CHKD Surgical Group’s pediatric surgery practice.