'Cooper's Night' offers help, hope

SANDPOINT — Nikki Ross Vierra is seeking both help and hope.

She remains hopeful that ongoing therapy, along with her own training as an Anat Baniel Method practitioner, will help her son Cooper to reach his full potential. She also hopes to use her training to assist other parents of children with special needs.

Financial support for Nikki and Cooper to continue working with ABM therapy will come through a “Cooper’s Night,” a benefit dinner and auction, Thursday, July 16, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Ponderay Events Center. Jim Lippi, owner of  Ivano’s Ristorante will prepare the menu, while wide range of donated items will be auctioned.

Nikki, the daughter of Candy Moon and Randy Ross, is a lifelong Sagle resident with deep roots in the local timber and agricultural industry. Her dad Randy, who owns R and R Contracting, has worked in the timber industry for 30 years. Nikki’s grandfather Herman Crabb, a Sagle cowboy, farmer and logger, was once named Timberfest’s Bull of the Woods. His father, Clarence Crabb, farmed in Morton. 

Nikki and her husband Aaron, both Sandpoint High graduates, own A.Vierra Contracting, Inc. near Garfield Bay. They have faced and overcome monumental challenges as young parents ever since the premature birth of their twin boys Oct. 26, 2001. Their story

is one of tragedy, inspiration, fierce determination, love and lots of laughs with Cooper who could melt any heart with his infectious smile.

The Vierra twins, Tyler and Cooper, were born at Spokane’s Deaconess Hospital after a 26-week pregnancy, weighing 1 pound, 3 ounces and 1 pound 10 ounces, respectively.

“This started a very scary and traumatic roller coaster ride of events that being in the hospital for 99 days will do,” Nikki recalls. “During the first 48 hours of Cooper’s life, he suffered a Class 4 bleed on his brain, causing damage to all four ventricles. The doctors asked us to unplug him several times. We said ‘no.’  No matter what, Cooper chose us, and we are taking him home. We moved on.”

Moving on meant some dark days for Aaron and Nikki. Most traumatic was the death of their son Tyler, due to infection.

“Six weeks after the twins’ birth, an infection took Tyler’s life,” Nikki recalls. “The night he passed away, we felt his spirit move into Cooper. We believe he is always with Cooper, helping him and protecting him.”

With Tyler’s death, Aaron Vierra decided not to return to work to be with his wife and surviving son. Cooper underwent numerous surgeries to correct problems associated with his condition. In one case, he received a shunt to drain spinal fluid.

“We were at the hospital every day by Cooper’s side,” Nikki says. “After a long 99 days in the hospital, we were able to bring our little man home. We were so excited.”

Since then, obstacles have come but have been overcome. Two months after he came home, an infection in Cooper’s shunt meant a heart flight and three more weeks at Sacred Heart Hospital while the shunt had to be drained externally before doctors could perform a surgical procedure for it to drain properly. Nikki, who describes herself as “a lioness of a mother” advocated a change in the hospital’s rules, allowing her to stay with Cooper in ICU throughout his recovery.

His health continued to improve. His parents’ “germaphobia,” as Nikki calls, it diminished, and life for parents and son returned to a relative norm. Then, along came Trapper, Cooper’s brother, now 4 who keeps an eye out for his older brother’s needs. Nikki credits Sandpoint pediatrician Dr. Joyce Gilbert for helping with this transition, even allowing Cooper to stay in the Bonner General OB department with Aaron and Nikki when Trapper was born.

“It was a great experience for us all,” Nikki says. “Dr. Gilbert has been a big part of our lives. She has been Cooper’s doctor since we brought him home … she has always been wonderful.”

Over the years, Cooper has received physical therapy — none so dramatic, however, as the “Anat Baniel Method,” which Nikki discovered through continued research.

“Last year we were fortunate to discover an alternate form of therapy … which uses gentle, innovative techniques to help the brain form new neural connections and patterns in a brain-injured child, enabling the child to move beyond his current limitations,” she explains. “We have been working with the nearest Anat Baniel practitioner in Salt Lake City every other month for the past year. Cooper has made remarkable strides … his brain is showing signs of new growth and connections; it is so exciting to watch.” To learn more about this therapy, visit www.anatbanielmethod.com.

During these sessions, Maralee, the practitioner, has encouraged Nikki to pursue her own training in Anat Baniel therapy. In February, she began the three-year program, requiring her to travel to San Rafael, Calif., for 12-day segments of learning and practice.

The idea for Cooper’s Night, as a means of helping defray costs of travel and treatment, hatched after Nikki talked with another parent involved with the program  who had coordinated a similar effort in her community.

So, Nikki has sought a little help from her ever-supportive family and friends. One of those is Mike Gunter, a Sandpoint Furniture owner and big fan of Cooper’s. He has offered the events center.

“I am so inspired by the strength and courage of Nikki and Aaron,” Gunter says, “how they accepted this challenge with amazing grace and their commitment to making Cooper’s life absolutely all it can be.”

Gunter has observed Cooper in action.

“He certainly understands his limitations, but it doesn’t seem to deter his zest for life whether it’s teasing his Uncle Bert or riding in one of his dad’s trucks,” Gunter adds. “You can’t help but be inspired after you have been with Cooper for a little while.”

For more information on the upcoming fundraiser, contact Nikki at 265-0997, email vierraross@hotmail.com, or visit www.coopersspace.com. Donations can also be made at Panhandle State Bank. Advanced tickets for the dinner are available for $10 apiece at Panhandle State Bank, Sandpoint Furniture or Odie’s Bayside Grocery in Garfield Bay.