ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 2, 1997 TAG: 9701020087
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: Associated Press
Two-year-old Jennifer Blankenbaker has slept only in hospital beds, eaten only through a feeding tube and has to communicate by sign language because of the ventilator tube in her throat.
She has never spent Christmas - or any other day - at home.
But on Christmas Eve, she was all smiles in her room at Kluge Children's Rehabilitation Center.
The vivacious little girl passionately hugged a teddy bear she'd been given for Christmas and said ``I love you'' to her mother in sign language.
Jennifer, whose family lives in Ferry Farm near Fredericksburg, was born Sept. 11, 1994, with a rare combination of heart defects that has kept her in need of nearly constant medical care, attached to tubes that feed her and help her breathe.
She spent her first Christmas in the University of Virginia Hospital and her second at a Fairfax County pediatric nursing home.
She got a doll, clothes, shoes and a Barney book for Christmas this year. ``Everything,'' said her mother, Nancy Blankenbaker, ``but the thing she wanted most.
``She wants to come home.''
Born with a congenital heart condition seen in only 50 of 100,000 births, Jennifer has spent her life in sterile institutional environments regularly being poked and prodded.
One might expect such a child to be withdrawn and brooding, but Jennifer is anything but.
``She's Miss Personality,'' said Suzie Golgosky, a registered nurse who works with Jennifer at Kluge.
``She's just a joy. She really is. She always has a smile.''
Jennifer had open heart surgery Nov. 14 in an attempt to repair her heart defects. Afterward, doctors had to open her chest three more times in a two-week period because of complications.
Dr. Nancy McDaniels, one of the University of Virginia Hospital cardiologists who has treated Jennifer, said Jennifer may finally be able to go home by springtime.
What's keeping her from going home now is not the heart defect, but another birth defect affecting her breathing.
The trachea and the esophagus - the breathing and swallowing tubes - are connected by a hole that makes it difficult for her to breathe. She also has undergone surgery to correct that defect and has had a tracheotomy tube placed in her throat to aid her breathing.
Jennifer's need for the ventilator is diminishing, but Blankenbaker, 24, is separated from Jennifer's father and cannot afford to make the arrangements necessary to bring her daughter home on the salary she makes at a fast-food restaurant.
Nor can she get health insurance for her daughter. And she said Medicaid won't cover all the costs of home care.
Anyone wishing to help Jennifer Blankenbaker's family pay for home care may send checks to The Jennifer Blankenbaker Foundation, Patriot Bank, Box 610, Stafford 22555.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Jennifer Blankenbaker clutches a doll at Klugeby CNBChildren's Rehabilitation Center.