Brandon was born April, 2007 at 31 wks gestation with type C long gap ea/tef, severe tracheomalcia, and other aspects of the vacterl.  4 1/2 months in the hospital and then the next 18 months in/out due to other complications.  None were prenatally diagnosed.  Each year slowly gets better.  Brandon was also dianogsed with subglottic stenosis, subglottic cyst, heart defect, kidney reflux.  Due to Brandon's TM he is subject to frequent upper airway infections.  He was also recently diagnosed with several sensory processing disorders which are believed to be tied to his early arrival and frequent hospitalizations.  

Looking at Brandon, you would never know he has been through so much in the past 3 1/2 yrs of his life.  He is our hero.

On January 25th, 2009 in Long Beach, California we welcomed our beautiful son, Elliot into the world. He was diagnosed with long gap Esophageal Atresia. On day one of life, Elliot underwent his first of several surgeries to repair his esophagus. He went through two failed thoracotomies and an emergency repair of a stomach perforation while in the NICU in Long Beach before we med-flighted him to Boston Children’s Hospital. He was finally repaired successfully on August 17, 2009. He also had a Nissen Fundoplication in that next month before finally flying home in October. All told, Elliot spent nine months in the NICU before finally going home for the first time on October 24th, 2009. Currently he is a happy, healthy, rambunctious nearly 22 month old boy! Like many of these heroes, no one would ever guess what he has been through in his young life. But look into his eyes and you will see a wise, lovely old soul.

Our sweet son was born at 35 weeks in February, 2009.  We found out about his birth and met him for the first time when he was a week-old.  We were told about his condition, EA/TEF, and that there were some unknowns, but we eagerly awaited and on Thanksgiving brought him home from the hospital at four-weeks-old.  We had a relatively problem free first four months with our precious son.  From the beginning, he coughed a lot and breathed rather noisily, but we were told this was common with children with EA/TEF.  At almost exactly five-months-old he ended up in the hospital due to aspirating his feedings and not wanting to eat.   It was six LONG months, many hospitalizations, and multiple surgeries later before we learned he had a second fistula that wasn't diagnosed or repaired at birth.  Thanks to Dr. Russell Jennings and team, on December 17, 2009, Simon finally had the surgery he needed all along.  We returned home on January 1, 2010 with a recovering but healthy baby boy who rarely coughs and who doesn't make any noise when breathing.  What a journey!