April 23, 2015 vol. 8 issue 41
Pension obligations and state cuts may pose threat
#bolingbrookbugle
see page 3
bolingbrookbugle.com
Featured News
Village proposes balanced budget, no new taxes
county Drew Peterson trial set for July 6 Audio excerpts to be filed under seal
see page 3
feature Bolingbrook to hit significant population mark in its 50th year see page 5
schools VVSD honors 38 students see page 7
opinion Are You Better Off Since Jan. 1?
see page 9
sports Living a dream Massengale drafted by WNBA’s Atlanta Dream
see page 13
Event gathers community to fight for one of its own By Laura Katauskas | Bugle Staff ho needs normal? Certainly not Supermanny. Nor his family. Like the super heroes on the movie screen, the Bueno family has a mission. That mission is awareness, and they are full of fight, determined to make others believe there is hope after trauma. One little boy with his mom, dad, two sisters, family and friends are on a mission to fight Cerebral Palsy with hyperbaric oxygen therapy. In 2012, Manny Bueno was born four weeks premature, with significant brain damage. His is a story of defyng the odds. Though told by doctors he would likely not survive, his parents refused to believe there was nothing to be done. According to his mom Holly, doctors assumed he was deprived of oxygen at birth, explaining his set-backs. “He could not eat by mouth ever. He could not coordinate suck/swallow/breath. He did not cry. He did not feel pain. He did not have a gag reflex. He barely woke up. He could not see. An MRI at two days old showed total brain damage. His EEG was highly abnormal and he was a high risk for seizures,” his mother documents. After various surgeries and treatments, it was after a visit to his chiropractor that a miraculous change began. The simple idea that if he was deprived of oxygen, why not give him oxygen. Manny began Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in which 100 percent oxygen is pressurized into an MRI-like chamber for various amounts of time and various depths depending on purpose. “My little Supermanny found a miracle,” said Bueno. “After a few weeks treatment (1 hour a day) he began tracking…seeing me. He began to look
Last year’s first Supermanny Shuffle brought more than 500 community members out to support the Bueno family’s efforts.
more alive in his eyes, he cried more and more, he developed a gag reflex that continued to improve to a nearly perfect reaction. He learned to suck on my finger with practice, he began to change for the better. Here is the kicker—after just 40 treatments his neurologist was skeptical, so we re-did the MRI of his brain. It showed 90 percent improvement and his brain activity test was nearly normal.” But another far less pleasant kicker for the family of five (Manny has two older sisters, Skyler and Ariana)—such treatments aren’t covered by insurance. Each therapy session costs approximately $175. Manny required 80 before his first birthday. It was after preparing for a 5k race last year with her friends that the idea struck Bueno. “I remember we were preparing for a tough race and kind of complaining about how hard it was and then I thought we have no reason to complain, what about those that aren’t given the ability to walk,” she said. “Then I thought, wouldn’t it be so cool to run a race for people like that…and for my son.”
See ‘unite’ on page 18
To register for the event, visit healingsupermanny. com/events. Registration on site May 3 also will be available.