Sara Baker is trapped inside her body.

Baker,19, was in a car accident Oct. 24 on 101 on her way to SRJC. Baker swerved to avoid being hit when changing lanes.

“She swerved and overcompensated, the car fishtailed and she went off the right side of the road, the car went into a ditch and rolled over then caught fire, knocking her unconscious,” her brother, Michael Baker wrote.

Her mother, Kristina Baker and her brother, Michael Baker, write on an Internet blog set up to keep family and friends updated on Sara Baker’s prognosis. Baker suffered serious head and neck injuries and was diagnosed with “Locked In Syndrome,” a rare neurological condition.

In less than a month, Sara Baker was transported from the ICU at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, to UC Davis medical center and then to Kaiser Neurosurgical ICU in Sacramento, for better care.

At first doctors thought Baker was in coma. “Oh god. We found out something. She’s not been in a coma. She never was. She’s what the doctors call ‘Trapped In’,” Michael Baker wrote.

Locked-in syndrome disables a person’s voluntary muscles. While Baker is fully aware and conscious, she can only control the muscles on her eyelids. To communicate she moves her eyes down for yes and up for no. “All her emotions, feelings, memories, are in there,” Mike Bartholomew, Sara Baker’s stepfather, said.

In less than a month, Baker has gone through overwhelming and extreme health conditions. Due to a blood clot in her vertebral artery, she suffered a pontine stroke and coma.

“Locked-in syndrome, buildup of pressure in her brain, buildup of fluid in her brain, code blue and resuscitation, coma, emergency CT scan, having a shunt put in to drain, subarachnoid hemorrhage and bleeding into the brain, pneumonia, tracheostomy,” her mother, Kristina Baker wrote.

Kristina Baker and the Neurologist went over a Computed Tomography (CT) of her daughter’s brain. “…Oh baby girl…you’ve been so beat up. Its so unfair. You are just 19 years old and he is showing me just how bad your poor brain has been thrashed,” her mother said.

Kristina Baker asked the doctor if there was something he could do for her daughter.

“ ‘No. There is nothing we can do for her. It is mother nature and her nature now.’ Hearing it from him…I trust what he says. I don’t accept it. But I do trust it…” her mother said.

“The doctor and I did discuss that Locked-In patients do gain ground, and do find enjoyment in their lives. Some have gone on to make significant, meaningful contributions to society. It just takes time..a lot of time and help,” her mother said.

On several occasions doctors have approached Kristina Baker about DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) protocol. “It pissed everybody off,” Bartholomew said. Her mother was upset, as well. “We had a horrid situation this morning… with one of her doctors. He took it upon himself to try and convince me to ‘let her go.’ He said he would not want to be in this state,” Kristina Baker wrote.

Her mother talked to her daughter about her wishes. “She agreed with me when I did not sign a do not resuscitate order. I told her that if she wants to fight, we will fight this with her,” Kristina Baker wrote.

At times, in the Kaiser room there is pain and tears, “right now I feel so helpless, lost, “ her mother wrote. “She’s frustrated today - lots of tears. She wants to be able to move and control her body - but can’t.”

Other times there is hope, “I told her to remember that scene in Kill Bill when Uma Thurman was saying ‘move your big toe’ until she did…I told her that she has to put her mind back in control of her body - channel that frustrated energy towards rewiring her brain however she could,” Kristina wrote. Which she did.

On Nov.13, her mother wrote, “OOH…She did the best thing today… She moved her toes…on command. Way freaking awesome.” On the other hand, she said that doctors believe this is “coincidental” and “reflexive”.

“I wish we could wake up from this and it be all gone, never happened…just a bad dream fading away,” her mother wrote.

Kristina gives daily updates on Baker’s condition through an Internet blog. She receives words of love and support from friends and family.

“I firmly believe that if sent positive loving thoughts that she will receive them directly from you,” Kristina Baker wrote.

You can read Kristina’s blog at:
http://sarastatus.blogspot.com/.

Donations can be made to: Sara Baker Trust Fund; Exchange Bank; 8220 Old Redwood Highway, Cotati, CA 94931.