Stephanie Buttelwerth is slowly beginning to emerge from a four-month coma that has locked her away from her home and family.

"At least we've seen that Stephanie is still in there," said Stephanie's mother, Rhonda Buttelwerth of Cape Girardeau, in a telephone interview from Rusk Rehabilitation Center in Columbia. "Now we just need to get her out for good."

Stephanie, 11, fell into a coma Oct. 10 after contracting viral encephalitis. She was at St. Louis Children's Hospital until mid-January when, still comatose, she was transferred to Rusk.

Then about two weeks ago Stephanie, who had been tracking movement with her eyes, spoke for the first time since she became ill.

"Someone had brought in a dog and I asked Stephanie, 'Did you see the dog?' When she said 'yes' I about fell out on the floor," Rhonda Buttelwerth said.

The window of consciousness that opened for Stephanie didn't last long that day. But it's been opening a little longer and a little wider every day, her mother said.

"It's not like all of a sudden she woke up from a long sleep," Buttelwerth said. "It's more gradual. But for a couple of minutes each day I have my Stephanie back."

Stephanie became ill less than two months after Buttelwerth moved from San Diego with her three children to live with her mother, Barbara Sexton, in Cape Girardeau.

The illness has been difficult for the family. The two younger children, Tiffany, 10 and Donald, 8, have been living with Sexton while their mother stays with Stephanie, first in St. Louis and now in Columbia. And money has been tight since Buttelwerth has been unable to work.

But Buttelwerth and Sexton have been amazed at the support they have found in the community. Teachers from Clippard Elementary School, where Stephanie had just entered the sixth grade when she fell ill, came to visit Stephanie in St. Louis, and the school PTA is holding a fund-raiser for Stephanie. Doctors and employees at Gastroenterology Associates, where Buttelwerth had worked for six weeks when her daughter fell ill, have helped out the family.

Concern and help have come from many other areas of the community, sometimes from people the family has never met.

"I think we must be on the prayer list of every church in town," said Sexton, who has been told by numerous people that different congregations are praying for Stephanie.

"The support people have given us has been unbelievable," Buttelwerth said. "It took me by surprise."

While the virus that caused the encephalitis is gone, the illness left Stephanie with encephalopathy, a condition where the brain doesn't function properly.

"When her brain connects she looks and sounds just like Stephanie," Buttelwerth said. "When it doesn't connect, she is just a mumbling, little mess."

Doctors have told Buttelwerth that Stephanie's brain will have to develop new pathways, which means she will have to relearn everything.

"She's like a baby," Buttelwerth said. "She's having to relearn how to walk, talk, brush her hair."

Stephanie continues to improve every day, her mother said. She has walked assisted down the hall, was taken off oxygen and on Thursday began eating real food, through she still gets most of her nourishment through a stomach tube.

Doctors are trying different medications to help Stephanie sleep and to diminish uncontrolled muscle spasms. There will probably be continuing changes in the medications as Stephanie's condition changes, Buttelwerth said.

Stephanie is also getting four types of therapy: occupational therapy to help with fine motor development; physical therapy to get her walking and improve her balance; speech therapy, since her speech muscles have been weakened through months of not being used; and recreational therapy to help her cognitive functions.

"Doctors think she's progressing well. She's meeting the goals they set. But it's not going fast enough for me," said Buttelwerth, who is looking forward to the day she can bring Stephanie back to Cape Girardeau. But that could be at least two months away, she said.

Buttelwerth realizes how much Stephanie needs the care she is getting at Rusk and hopes the insurance won't stop before her daughter is recovered.

"I watch the therapy, and I couldn't do what they do," Buttelwerth said.

While the mounting bills concern Buttelwerth, she said all she can do now is concentrate on getting Stephanie well enough to go home.

"I want her to be able to go through the sixth grade at Clippard," Buttelwerth said. "I want to go back to work. I want to do all that normal, boring stuff that you never realize how wonderful it is until something like this happens."

Benefit set Feb. 29

A benefit to raise money to help defray medical costs of Stephanie Buttelwerth will be held at Clippard Elementary School. The spaghetti dinner and silent auction being sponsored by Clippard PTA will be held in the school cafeteria from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Feb. 29. Tickets for the dinner, which cost $4 each, should be purchased by Friday at the school, 2880 Hopper Road, or at Shivelbine's Music Store, 535 Broadway. There will be a raffle for a television, children's furniture and a bike.