'She has been incredibly strong': Seaman student, 12, recovering from brain surgery

Norah Budge lived the average life of a sixth-grader. She enjoyed playing soccer with her siblings, dirt bike riding and darting around her backyard on a zipline.

Then she got sick.

Sunny Budge knew something was wrong when her 12-year-old daughter's eye swelled shut and her cognitive functions plunged overnight.

Over the March 9 weekend, Norah was sent to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, and had surgery — a sinus infection had led to a brain infection.

"I'd be like, 'Oh, my goodness, this is so scary,' but she has been incredibly strong," Sunny Budge said. "She has gone through super hard things and done awesome. It's been amazing to see the family rally around each other.

"It's been amazing to see how we can hold to our faith and have hope through it."

Young siblings felt shift after Norah Budge got sick

Norah is the sixth child of 10. Three of her siblings are adults.

The two oldest boys in the house, Wesley and David, said the dynamic of the house shifted while Norah was in the hospital. Their mom, Sunny, was living at the hospital with Norah, and their dad, Tim was rushing back and forth between the house and hospital.

"At first it was really scary," Wesley said, "but I prayed every day and stuff, and so I was comforted."

Norah's adult siblings were affected by her hospitalization, too. Norah's oldest sister, Audri flew home from college to spend time with her in the hospital, and her older brother Joseph called to check in on her.

Music and movies have helped Norah recover

Unlike others who have had this medical rarity, Norah needed only one surgery on the left side of her brain to clean out the infection. No brain tissue was removed.

After the surgery, though, she was unable to speak and had difficulty using the right side of her body.

Despite being nonverbal in speaking, Norah was able to sing along to songs like "Bop to the Top" and "We're All in This Together" in her hospital bed while watching "High School Musical" with her oldest sister Audri. They grew up watching the musical trilogy.

Norah said the "High School Musical" movies gave her comfort. She said she can't pick a favorite from the trilogy because they're all good.

"We were playing those ('High School Musical' movies) and the nurses were coming in and were like, 'This is the room to be in,'" Sunny Budge said. "I was telling all the nurses if you need a pick-me-up, go to this room, because the nurses would come in and dance with us."

Family has received overwhelming support

Norah's father, Tim Budge, said the whole family had received an overwhelming amount of support from their family, friends, church community and strangers.

To help alleviate pressure from the medical bills, their extended family made a GoFundMe campaign, which raised $14,000 of its $15,000 goal, the family said they appreciate the donations, but they don't need further financial assistance.

The Budge family received support in many ways.

"It's been incredible the unique ways that people reached out," Sunny Budges said.

People from around the community dropped off groceries, offered fun activities for the family to help decompress and stopped by the hospital to make sure mother and daughter had everything they needed during their two-week stay.

"When people that you don't even know are reaching out to champion for you, to encourage you and say, 'Hey, we're praying and we want you to know we're thinking about you,' that's amazing," Sunny Budge said. "That support is incredible."

The road to recovery is nearly complete

Norah has largely recovered but is still undergoing physical therapy.

Norah and her parents drive to Children's Mercy five times a week, and Norah spends four to six hours a day on her physical therapy.

When Norah would get frustrated and exhausted from her recovery and day-to-day life, she would listen to a song her older brother Wesley shared with her to motivate herself. Sometimes, they would play "Good Day" by Christian pop artist Forrest Frank on the way to Children's Mercy, and other times she'd sing the song to herself.

"They say I'm doing good, but I think they're lying," said Norah, who is frustrated by the pace of the physical therapy.

Norah said she feels like she's progressing slowly and wants to finish the work sooner than the early summer estimate.

Her parents, however, said her recovery has been miraculous.

Pre-teen has a lot of plans for summer

Norah is expected to soon have a clean bill of health.

Norah said she is looking forward to resting, growing her hair out from where it was shaved and visiting family on the East Coast this summer.

Next school year she will start middle school at Seaman and is considering getting into archery.

And soon, she should be able to zipline and airsoft shoot with her brothers again.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Shawnee County youth recovers from brain surgery with community help