Bridget Scully

We came to HSS after a long hospitalization at another hospital. Bridget was 7 years old and had been in the hospital for a month. She was in tremendous pain and had lost the use of her left arm. Some doctors had recommended amputation. Dr. Hotchkiss immediately diagnosed the problem and wanted to make every effort to save her arm and give the best life possible. He first removed all the scar tissue in her arm, took a vein from her leg and moved that to her arm, covered that with a stomach muscle and a skin graft. After that, she had a palpable pulse for the first time since her accident. After over a year, her nerves had grown back, so she regained feeling. Dr. Hotchkiss then took a muscle from her leg and put it in her arm and connected it to the nerves, to give her some gripping ability. Later, he took a nerve from her ankle to supplement the nerves that had regrown. Today, she can move her thumb well and can use her hand enough to do almost everything. She skis, snowboards, plays on the basketball team. She has even learned to knit. Dr. Hotchkiss saved her arm and has ensured that she will have a rich life with functional use of her arm and hand. Finally, in addition to his tremendous medical skill, Dr. Hotchkiss could not have been nicer to Bridget. He explained everything he was going to do to her and took great care to make sure that she was as comfortable as possible. We are eternally grateful. We even wrote a book about her experience for other children who may end up in a hospital. We dedicated it to Dr. Hotchkiss!