Three-year-old Madison Berkeley is happy, walking again and showing off her new blue dress to the Children’s Hospital Boston doctors and nurses that cared for her after a horrific car crash that killed her father and left her with injuries all over her body. Initially taken to South Shore Hospital, Madison was transferred to Children’s when the seriousness of her injuries was realized.

“It’s amazing Madison survived considering the severity of the car crash,” said David Mooney, MD, surgeon and director of the Trauma Program at Children’s. “Her injuries were clearly critical; there was no part of her body that wasn’t injured. From head to toe, every part of Madison’s body had suffered some damage from the crash.”

“We knew immediately that we would need a neurosurgeon, an orthopedic surgeon and possibly a general surgeon,” Mooney added. “One of the true joys about working at Children’s is that every one of the people that would be seeing her would be a pediatric specialist. She was definitely in the right place to receive the care she needed considering the precarious nature of her injuries.”

The trauma team’s main concern for Madison was the possibility that she had fractured her neck, which would result in paralysis if not treated with extreme caution. After confirming that Madison did, in fact, have a neck fracture, she was placed in a halo device to keep her head and spine stable, allowing the medical staff to safely work on Madison’s numerous other broken bones.

“I questioned why all of this was happening to my little girl,” said Madison’s mother, Lisa Ceurvels. “She’s three years old. What did she ever do to deserve something so horrible? Losing her father and then having all of this happen to her. It was scary. It took some time before I felt comfortable that she wasn’t going to leave me.”

“The doctors tried to prepare me for what Madison was going to look like before I saw her for the first time after the accident,” Ceurvels continued. “She almost looked like a ghost; she was very pale. It was difficult seeing her like that. I was emotional, but I didn’t want her to see me cry, so I had to leave the room. I didn’t want her to think she was that bad.”

Madison remained in the halo for two months after the crash. Her casts have since been removed, and she no longer needs a wheelchair to move around. “You don’t always get to see your patient’s outcome when they leave the emergency department,” said Janet Spellman, RN, regional trauma clinical nurse specialist at Children’s. “I knew she was doing OK, but seeing Madison get up and walk out of the carriage was really just something else.”

Madison’s mom testified to her quick recovery. “She’s doing great,” Ceurvels said. “She’s just very happy; she doesn’t let any of her boo boos stop her. She’s happy. She’s definitely a miracle. I don’t think she was supposed to survive. It was the quick thinking and expertise of the doctors at Children’s that saved her life.”