Austin was born on September 7, 2004. He was born a healthy baby boy. His family was so excited to have him here. His parents had long wanted a baby boy. They had two wonderful girls and their son now made their lives complete. Austin’s sisters – Abby and Amber were so excited and happy to have a baby brother to love. Then on a fateful October day – Austin stopped responding and basically had a stroke. The doctors at the hospital discovered that Austin had a massive bleed on his brain. The bleed was a result of not getting the vitamin K shot. He was born at home and never got the shot.
October 15, 2004 will forever haunt the Wade Family. That is the day their beautiful healthy baby boy was forever changed. Life for the Wades will never be what it should have been.
Austin was in the PICU at the University Hospital for 14 long days. Brain surgery was the only chance. After the surgery they had to take out the left bone flap because they knew his brain would continue to swell. The first 48 hours were critical for Austin. Against the odds he survived. The Doctors had saved his life. He was put on cooling blankets and heavily medicated. To breathe he was placed on a ventilator. At first, his eyes did not respond and then within a couple of days they started to move and dilated. Exactly one week after his life-saving surgery he was able to be weaned from the ventilator. Thank the Lord – he was able to breathe on his own. The Wade Family could finally hold their baby boy. It had been a long 7 days since Jenny (Austin’s mother) and Darrin (the father) could hold their precious son. Their arms had been so empty and just ached for him. That was a Friday and then on the next Tuesday Austin did a swallow study and was allowed to nurse. Another big milestone – he took to nursing as if he had never had to stop! Praise God! Jenny had kept up her nursing supply by pumping. She was so glad to get rid of that cold hard pump and have her baby boy feed on his own.
Austin soon weaned off all oxygen and was allowed to go home on October 29, 2004. What a happy day. When he was brought home – the family and doctors had good hopes for him. That thought his brain damage was only in the back left side in his occipital lobe. He was able to move all his limbs and his eyes seemed to see. The Doctors thought that Austin’s personality and IQ were not affected. The Wade Family had such high hopes.
When Austin went home he was missing the left bone flap of his skull so they had a special helmet made for him. It was to protect his head. Driving in the car was scary because you could see his head move – especially over a bump. It looked like Jell-O. After a couple of weeks the swelling in his head went down and looked more normal. But because the bone was missing – he could only sleep on his right side. He started turning his head a lot to the right and then his eyes would go switching to the right.
Then in late November, another CAT scan was done to see if the swelling in Austin’s brain had gone down. The swelling had indeed gone down but know it revealed extensive damage throughout his brain. The neurosurgeon told the Wades that Austin would be mentally retarded but he did not know to what extent. That was the most devastating news parents could hear. That news seemed almost harder than the day that Austin went into surgery. The Wades were crushed but not broken. They are fighting for therapies and trying to help their son. They want him to be the best he can be.
MO First Step Program started providing therapy for Austin. They have been so wonderful – through all this pain they have been a beacon of light. They come into the Wade household every weekday and provide PT and OT therapies.
But Austin needs more help. That is why when the Wades discovered Stem cells therapy they had to give it a try. The problem of course is money. The Wade Family is trying to raise funds to help pay for the umbilical cord stem cell therapy. It has shown to help many other children with cerebral palsy. The Wades pray daily that this will be the answer for their son.
Today – (July 2005) Austin is now almost 10 months old. He is not as irritable as he was but he has a long way to go. He does not sit, or crawl or reach for toys. He had never laughed until about 3 weeks after his umbilical cord stem cell injection. The laughing so far is random but it’s a start.
Please pray for Austin.
