Baby shaken by dad is making progress (Holland, Michigan)

A baby severely abused by dad SCOTT CROWDER is actually making an amazing recovery, after spending his initial days after the attack on life support. Dad is now in prison for 1st-degree child abuse. It appears he has a past history of domestic violence against the mom, as she had filed for an order of protection before.

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/news/x1991999644/Fortunate-tot-survived-Shaken-Baby-Syndrome-one-year-ago

Fortunate tot survived Shaken Baby Syndrome one year ago
By MEGAN SCHMIDT
The Holland Sentinel
Posted Oct 03, 2009 @ 12:13 AM

Holland, MI — .A year ago, doctors told Jeannette Imkamp they weren’t sure if her two-month-old son Kobi was going to survive.

Today, 14-month-old Kobi Crowder crawls, hugs, kisses and is sampling his first bites of solid foods. His doctors have called him a “medical miracle.”

One thing does concern Imkamp, 20, a little — her son hasn’t started talking.

“The doctor told me, ‘Einstein didn’t talk until he was three. I wouldn’t worry,’” Imkamp said, clasping her son’s outstretched hands during an afternoon visit to Kollen Park this week. Out of the corner of her eye, Imkamp watches her 2-year-old daughter Madeline scurry across the playground equipment.

In late September 2008, Kobi Crowder was the victim of one of Ottawa County’s most high-profile shaken baby cases, spending several days on life support after his father, Scott Crowder, shook the infant and struck him on the head.

After almost two weeks at the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, Kobi was transferred to the Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, facility where patients receive treatment for spinal and brain injuries.

At one point, doctors believed he might lose his vision.

Crowder, 22, is currently serving two to 15 years in prison for first-degree child abuse, to which he pleaded guilty.

Kobi continues to spend about three and a half hours in therapy every week, Imkamp said. Although one year and two months old, his development is on par with a 9-month-old, Imkamp said.

Kobi isn’t walking on his own yet, but does an “army crawl” and can stand as long as someone’s helping hold him up.

"A child’s brain is still ‘plastic’ at these very young ages. There’s hope of it rewiring itself,” Adam Kremer, a neurosurgeon at the Brain and Spine Center in Holland Township, said. “With intensive rehab and therapy, those ongoing efforts can bring about a likelihood of additional recovery.”

Imkamp said Kobi is a good eater, who grazes on salad and recently tried macaroni and cheese.

At the park, he cries as he watches his sister eat potato chips; Imkamp feeds him a few, one at a time, and Kobi quiets down.

“He has trouble with hitting himself, they think because he doesn’t know where his hand is if he can’t see it,” she said.

Imkamp said she has no communication with Crowder, her boyfriend of almost five years, but stays in touch with his family.

In court, Crowder tried to retract his guilty plea on the day he was scheduled for sentencing. An Ottawa County judge wouldn’t allow it, and Imkamp says she’s glad.

Crowder sent her several apologetic letters following his sentencing, Imkamp said, but they weren’t the apologies she wanted to hear. She never responded.

“They were selfish apologies, more or less,” she said. “He wrote that he was feeling down and depressed. He said if he couldn’t have me in his life, he wouldn’t have (the kids) either. That’s fine and dandy because he won’t be having me in his life.”

Imkamp tried to rid herself of Crowder when she filed for a personal-protection order in December 2007. Three months later, court records show she asked to have the restraining order terminated, saying she wanted Crowder to be able to see his children.

“I was in a bad relationship, and I ended it,” Imkamp said, adding that she hesitates to date again. “When I allowed him to come back into my life to see the kids, worse things happened.”

Imkamp keeps scrapbooks and folders stuffed with photos, hospital bracelets and newspaper clippings detailing Kobi’s journey.

“I keep these things so they will have answers,” she said of her two children. “I even have an envelope with all the negative comments.”

Meanwhile, Imkamp said she’s receiving state assistance while she looks for employment. She completed a program in phlebotomy from the Blue Heron Academy in Grand Rapids this summer.

“I really want to be able to provide for my kids,” she said.