Corynn Kelly

Corynn Kelly of Lincoln, Neb., is a happy, active 5-year-old who passes her time dancing, coloring, swimming and turning somersaults. But during her first few months of life, Corynn's parents worried she might be seriously handicapped by an injury sustained at birth.

When she was born, Corynn weighed almost 10 pounds, and the delivery was difficult for her mother, Audra. Corynn's collarbone was broken during delivery. Also, her brachial plexus nerves were damaged. The brachial plexus is a network of nerves that comes from the spinal cord and controls muscle movements and sensation in the shoulder, arm and hand . The injury left Corynn without movement in her right shoulder, and she could not bend her elbow.

"I had a perfect pregnancy and she was fine," Audra says of Corynn. "To have that happen during birth, we were scared; we didn't know what to do. We didn't know if it would be permanent, if she would be handicapped."

The Kellys decided to have Corynn evaluated at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., one of the country's leading centers for treatment of brachial plexus injuries. The most common form of brachial plexus injuries is Erb's palsy, caused usually by trauma during birth.

The Erb's palsy team at Mayo includes pediatric specialists from Neurosurgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Neurology and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. A team of specialists saw Corynn when she was 6 weeks old and advised the Kellys to bring her back six weeks later. The specialists noted that many babies who have Erb's palsy heal naturally. But, at 3 months old, Corynn still had nerve damage, and the Mayo specialists recommended surgery.

Audra and her husband, John, worried that their daughter was too small for the procedure. "I asked a lot of questions and wanted to know a lot of specifics about surgery and recovery," Audra says. "Everyone at Mayo was so comforting and patient and took whatever time I needed to make me feel OK." The couple decided to proceed with surgery to reconstruct Corynn's damaged nerves.

Mayo physicians report a high rate of success from nerve surgery in children with Erb's palsy, especially those treated by the age of 6 months. "Early referral, diagnosis and treatment are paramount," says Robert Spinner, M.D., a neurosurgeon specializing in brachial plexus injuries and a member of Corynn's surgical team.

"When you have a shoulder and elbow that are nonfunctional, it's kind of a tragedy not to be able to use an otherwise normal hand," he says. "With surgery we were able to get her hand where it wants to go."

During a seven-hour operation on July 22, 2003, a piece of nerve from Corynn's right leg was used to bridge the damaged segment of nerves connecting her spinal cord and shoulder and arm nerves. In addition, to improve shoulder function, a nerve was transferred from one portion of the shoulder to another.

Corynn wore a shoulder immobilizer for three weeks. About three months after surgery, she started lifting her arm. She crawled at 9 months, as most babies do. Today, she likes to hang on monkey bars and tries to keep pace with her sisters, Mckynna and Kwynn, both 9.

"After Corynn was born, it was very frightful," Audra says. "But once we got over that and knew we'd be dealing with Mayo Clinic, we were confident something good would come out of it. We hope other babies with brachial plexus injuries have the opportunity to get the help Corynn did."