DANA POINT : ‘Hoping for a Miracle’ for Girl, 12

Eyes closed, the girl in the black mini-skirt sat silently in her wheelchair, seemingly asleep. But at a word from her mother, a wide smile broke like sunlight across her pale face. Out of the hospital just three days, 12-year-old Melissa Bevi was recovering Friday from the latest in a series of strokes that have left her partly paralyzed, unable to open her eyes or speak.

Her parents, plumber Fred Bevi, 41, and homemaker Sandra Bevi, 35, are now debating whether to allow a risky, 12-hour operation to correct Melissa’s brain-stem abnormality and prevent additional strokes.

Melissa has recovered three times before from bleeding in the brain, the first coming when she was 3 1/2. But a brain scan after the latest stroke on May 31 showed that she needs major surgery if she is to survive this rare affliction, Sandra Bevi said.

While the family considers what to do, “we’re walking on eggshells,” Melissa’s mother said. “We’re hoping for a miracle. But we’re hoping the surgery in two weeks will remove the threat of another bleed. We’re hoping it will remove the pressure on her brain so she can speak. We’re hoping it will bring back all the things that she’s lost.”

The Bevis are also worried about the cost of their daughter’s medical care, which is rapidly consuming their health benefits. Melissa’s most recent hospitalization cost more than $40,000. About $179,000 remains for Melissa’s medical care, her mother said, but hospital officials have already suggested “that won’t be enough (for the upcoming brain surgery). I’ve been told that $250,000 isn’t enough.”

To help the family, friends recently established the Melissa Bevi Benevolence Fund, a nonprofit trust based at P.O. Box 1523, San Juan Capistrano, Calif. 92693.

“People have been coming to me, saying, ‘What can we do?’ ” fund administrator Janice Lauzon said. “We’ve sent so many flowers, we could plant a beautiful garden. But we figured this would help more.” The fund, however, won’t put much of a dent in the Bevis’ medical bills. So far, only $576 has been contributed.

After previous bleedings in the brain, Melissa was hospitalized briefly but recovered movement in her arms and legs with physical therapy. The latest stroke, however, appears to have undone Melissa’s previous recoveries.

After four weeks in the hospital, she cannot walk without assistance, her left arm is partly paralyzed, her right arm shivers with tremors, and she cannot talk or open her eyes.

While it’s too soon after the latest stroke to begin physical therapy, spending time with her 5-year-old brother and visiting with sixth-grade classmates “is her therapy,” her mother said. She added that Melissa’s friends have visited often in the past few days, sharing new audiotapes and decorating Melissa’s nails with glossy pink polish.

While Melissa was in the hospital, she also got one of the thrills of a lifetime, Sandra Bevi said, when the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which aids seriously ill children, made arrangements for her to attend her sixth-grade graduation from Dana Point Christian School.

“It was like Cinderella in her coach,” said the Bevis, describing how an ambulance and two attendants spirited Melissa away from Chapman Hospital to the ceremonies on a two-hour pass.

“All the attention really makes her want to get well,” her mother said.

Though Melissa “gets scared sometimes” and the family knows too well that “life can change on a dime,” still “Melissa’s a fighter,” Sandra Bevi said.

And though it is hard to document her daughter’s slow recovery, “I know that smile is bigger than it was in the hospital,” her mother said gratefully.