ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 25, 1997 TAG: 9702250051
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: DUBLIN
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
At a farmhouse that stands on the front lines of a national crisis, little Courtney LaPlante and her parents wage a lonely battle.
Courtney has earned the battlefield ribbons of a miracle child. Six months into her life, she has already endured open-heart surgery and a series of life-threatening medical problems.
Each day she is fed through a stomach tube at home while her mother or father stand sentinel over her. It's not a matter of being overprotective, they say. Courtney vomits all the time and could easily choke.
Somehow Courtney's blue eyes smile. For all she knows, this is how life will be - until her father's medical benefits run out.
Karen and Steve LaPlante have an ever-growing stack of bills, with interest on late payments that grows like a cancer on their financial health. Courtney's expenses total around $900,000; her lifetime medical limit is $1 million, Karen LaPlante said.
What happens when costs hit the insurance ceiling?
That's just one of the uncertainties the LaPlantes endure each day. They also ask themselves why working people should face such a crushing dilemma.
Courtney would be better off if the LaPlantes were very rich - or very poor. Either way, she might be better assured of getting the medical care she needs.
The LaPlantes, who both work, say they make too much money to qualify for substantial public assistance. So far their search for alternative sources of help has come up empty. They make clear they aren't looking for handouts, either.
"What are we supposed to do?" Karen LaPlante asks. "If she doesn't have medical care, she dies. Why should you be punished when you're trying?"
At first, everything seemed fine when Courtney was born in August. Her parents had been married for four years and were ready to start a family. Karen LaPlante says she followed all the rules of prenatal care to the letter.
But Courtney's initial examination turned up a heart murmur. More tests revealed a rare and serious heart defect, one that left unattended would kill her within months.
Nine-day-old Courtney was sent to the Duke University Medical Center, where she underwent an operation to transplant part of another infant's heart in her body.
Afterward they placed Courtney on life support. "All I could think of was that she looked like someone's science experiment. Only the top of her head and one leg were bare enough that we could touch," LaPlante said.
Within days, Courtney suffered cardiac arrest and seizures. She needed 38 blood transfusions. "Most of the doctors wanted to give up on our child," LaPlante said. There was a point when the ultimate question arose.
"If God wants to take my child, why should she be continually hooked up to the machines. I don't want to see her suffer," she told herself.
Then Courtney pulled through. "The first time she smiled at me, I knew it was worthwhile. I knew she had some enjoyment to life."
In December Courtney came home with monitors, pumps and oxygen. It's too early to be sure, but the doctors and therapists tell the LaPlantes that their daughter is developmentally delayed, yet showing no sign of brain damage.
"She's far exceeded expectations," her mother said.
Nonetheless, Courtney requires vigilant attention. Having her around has changed life in the LaPlante household, but not the way her parents expected. Karen and Steve alternate shifts, one working while the other watches Courtney.
"If you love your child, you just do it," Karen LaPlante said.
The pressure is constant and mentally stressful, not to mention the isolation of handling the situation at their rural home, with no other residences even in sight. If there's a problem with Courtney, "It's not like I can just shout out the window," she said.
Doctors tell the LaPlantes that Courtney will need two more heart operations before she reaches maturity - if she lives that long.
Courtney has shown extraordinary resiliency and determination. Her parents vow to do everything they can. But their daughter's survival may simply be beyond their means.
The Duke stay cost $500,000 alone, LaPlante said. Insurance has covered much - but not all - of Courtney's expenses. Presently the family owes 12 separate bills for medical costs.
"Right now, its tough. We're having trouble paying our normal bills," LaPlante said. "Nobody has been super nasty with us - yet."
LaPlante has been a social worker, and during the few spare hours of the week she gets when Courtney is watched by a nurse, she has been contacting every public or private agency she can think of.
"Nobody asks about the bills. They always ask about our income and resources," LaPlante said. The answer has been the same: the family has too much to qualify for help.
"I am not going to give up until I find something for my child. I'm responsible for her," she said.
Ironically, the family may end up broke, and so ensure Courtney will qualify for medical care as an indigent.
That's not right, LaPlante said. "There should be some program that focuses on family preservation. It could happen to anyone. Something needs to change."
The other day the LaPlantes got a telephone call from the governor's office. An employee asked questions about Courtney and offered some leads. LaPlante said none of those have panned out.
"If she has a mission on this earth, it's to be an example, to show people something," LaPlante said.
If nothing else, her mother hopes Courtney's struggle will influence others to give blood or be listed as tissue donors.
"I'm proud of her," she said.
LENGTH: Long : 113 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Gene Dalton. 1. Six-month-old Courtney LaPlante doesn'tby CNBlook like a baby with a serious heart problem as her mother, Karen,
holds her at their Pulaski County home. 2. Courtney has a Broviac
Catheter attached to her chest (left). It serves as a direct IV to
her heart. 3. The baby's parents, Karen and Steve, injuect a saline
solution into the catheter (above) to flush the line and prevent
blood clots. color.