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SATURDAY MARCH 25 | SUNDAY MARCH 26 2017
Glenview | Northbrook
SUNDAY BREAKFAST
Some frank — and fun-filled — discussions with a hot dog man. P18
SPORTS
SOCIAL SCENE
Glenbrook South’s Carie Weinman headlines all-area girls basketball team. P16
Guests gathered at the iconic Chalet Nursery to celebrate its 100th birthday. P11 FOLLOW US:
NO. 91 | A JWC MEDIA PUBLICATION
NEWS
Making a beeline to state geography contest BY STEVE HANDWERKER DAILYNORTHSHORE.COM
J
ustin Leszynski matches brain with brawn. An eighth-grader at Attea Middle School in Glenview who excels in soccer, basketball and baseball, Leszynski recently earned a berth to the National Geographic Bee state competition, which will be held March 31 at Illinois State University. He also advanced to state last year. His aim is to make it to the national bee in Washington D.C. “It should be fun,” said Leszynski. “It’s just like going into a [club soccer] game when you know that you’re going to go up against a player or team that’s established. You look forward to the hard competition.” According to his social studies teacher and soccer coach at Attea, Zachary Glim, only two students from the school have qualified for Continued on PG 8
Rare surgery helps baby born with four legs Glenview, Glencoe doctors lead team at Advocate Children’s Hospital
performed a successful, lifechanging surgery on the baby at Advocate Children’s Hospital. Now 10 months old, Dominique was born with a parasitic rachipagus conjoined twin — an incompletely formed twin joined to her by the vertebral column — and her twin’s not-fully-developed body of a bladder, spine, waist, legs and feet, with the appendages protruding from Dominique’s neck and back. “It’s an exceedingly rare variation of an exceedingly rare BY STEVE HANDWERKER condition,” said Dr. Belin, adding DAILYNORTHSHORE.COM that there have only been about 25 described cases of a parasitic r. Frank Vicari and Dr. twin attached to the spine and Eric Belin had reserva- 30 cases of a double spine in the tions when asked to world, which Dominique has. operate on an infant who was “Nobody’s done a lot of these,” born with the legs of an incom- added Dr. Vicari. “Personally, pletely formed twin protruding this is my second conjoined from her neck and back. twin.” “It was very unfamiliar. I His first, performed many winced a bit when I was trying years ago at Children’s Memoto decide whether to take the rial Hospital, is now a healthy case on,” said Dr. Belin, of young woman with a career. Glencoe, who is a pediatric and Shortly after her birth in Ivory adult comprehensive spine Coast, West Africa, Dominique’s surgeon at Illinois Bone and parents sought medical treatJoint Institute and Advocate ment, and Ohio-based charity Children’s Hospital in Park Children’s Medical Mission Ridge. “[But] when you see the West (CMMW ) brought her clinical picture, and see this baby plight to the world via Facebook. with these limbs coming off the Nancy Swabb, of Chicago’s spine, you realize that this is Edgebrook neighborhood, heard someone we have to help.” about her and contacted longDr. Vicari, of Glenview, chief time Advocate Lutheran General of Advocate’s pediatric plastic pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. John surgery and cranial facial surgery, Ruge. felt similarly. Given her age and photos and “If you’re not intimidated by virtually no medical information, a case like this, there’s something Ruge needed to ascertain if sucterribly wrong with you,” he said. cessful surgery were possible. “And if you don’t want to take “He came to me and asked, on a case like this, doing what I ‘Do you think we can do this?’ ” do, there’s something terribly said Dr. Vicari, a surgeon for wrong with you.” nearly 30 years. “I said, ‘I think Drs. Vicari and Belin did take so.’ Then, he approached the on the case — and with a team hospital and asked, ‘Will you do of 50 clinicians on March 8 this?’ ”
D
Dominique is recovering with a foster family in Chicago after undergoing a life-changing, six-hour surgery that removed a parasitic twin from her spine. PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF ADVOCATE CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
Advocate Lutheran was on board. CMMW arranged for Dominique’s journey, and Swabb’s family took her into its home when she arrived in early February. Dominique’s family would receive ongoing updates. Ruge’s
team conducted initial CT and MRI scans at Advocate Lutheran’s expense. “At that point, we brought in the team that we needed, met the child and decided we still needed more information,” said Dr. Vicari.
“She had a parasitic twin’s pelvis attached to her cervical and thoracic spinal columns, each with its own spinal cord,” explained Dr. Belin, noting that in addition to removing the Continued on PG 8
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