Eight-week-old McKenna Hovenga was struck by a softball during her father's softball game two weeks ago. Doctors are now saying that she may have suffered significant brain damage in one part of her brain.
Hovenga has not been fully awake since the incident occurred.
Struck By A Softball
A Facebook page was set-up for Hovenga after she was struck by the foul ball at the game. The page, Healing for McKenna, featured an update on May 13 about her current condition. In the post by a relative named Laura, she says that doctors are concerned about Hovenga's dropping blood pressure and heart rate.
Hovenga has been hospitalized since May 2 at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. In an update on May 11 on the Facebook page, Hovenga was said to be having seizures during the previous day. On May 11, Hovenga was still having seizures about 10 seconds in duration.
Doctors told the family that they were able to pinpoint the location of the seizures in two areas of the brain that may have suffered brain damage. One area suffered a lot of brain damage and the other suffered significant damage, according to the Facebook post. Both areas affect a large portion of the brain, mostly with motor skills and development.
The post closes by saying that they won't disclose the full extent of the damage until Hovenga is fully awake. Hovenga was struck by a ball while she was being breastfed by her mother. Her mother didn't realize what had occurred until she heard Hovange scream and saw that a lump was forming on her head.
Fraudulent Fundraising For McKenna
While Hovenga has been recuperating in the hospital, there have been people that are trying to take advantage of her to raise money. The Healing for McKenna Facebook page says that a fraudulent GoFundMe page has been collecting donations to help Hovenga, but that it isn't tied in any way to the family. The campaign managed to reach $100.
Laura who runs the Healing for McKenna page, posted a link to the account to alert users not to donate to the page. She calls the account fraudulent and wanted to warn those interested in Hovange's healing not to donate to the page.
On May 14, in a new update about Hovenga's health, Laura says that a YouCaring account set-up for Hovenga will be shut down due to the GoFundMe account that was started. She added that there will be a PayPal account started for Hovenga.
